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WEDNESDAY EDITION: Don't
mess with the
monkeys....Ham on a
hog.....
Ham radio emergency
comms in Eastern Iowa
A Gazette headline reads
"2nd-largest per-capita
group of amateur radio
operators in the world call
Eastern Iowa home"
The newspaper article
says
When a derecho
packing winds of 80 to 100
miles per hour — and gusts
topping 140 miles per hour —
hit Eastern Iowa in August,
about 400,000 Iowans were
left without power and many
had no cell service.
That meant no television
news, no cable updates, and
for many that rely heavily
on cellphones rather than
landlines, limited phone
access.
The Cedar
Valley Amateur Radio Club
has a motto for those times:
“When all else fails,
radio.”
“For some
people, it’s merely a hobby,
but for a lot of us, it’s
much more than that,” said
Scott Haney, president of
the CVARC club.
“Ham
radio operators are involved
in emergency management, in
large event management, in a
large variety of things. A
lot of times people don’t
know we’re there, but we’re
actually a large part of
planning and carrying out
many events and gatherings.”
And in times of crisis —
like the floods of 2008 or
the derecho in August —
emergency management
officers rely on amateur
radio operators to relay
information and keep
communications going when
other systems aren’t working
because of electrical
outages.
“We do need
to be trained, we do need
the licenses, to do that
kind of work,” said Haney,
who is a former emergency
manager for the Amateur
Radio Emergency Service in
Iowa. “Just having a radio
won’t do it. You have to
have someone who is
competent to run the
system.”
Read the
full article at
https://www.thegazette.com/subject/life/people-and-places/ham-amateur-radio-scott-haney-cvarc-20210119
Note: It is not clear
where the newspaper's
headline writer got "2nd
largest per-capita group ...
in the world" from. It
is suspected several cities
in Japan could be higher
per-capita.
TUESDAY EDITION: More on
the FCC warning to extremists...Popular
app
ZELLO used in capital
attack.....I have heard
everything now, a
vagina candle...
A shadow of sadness
is cast over HRO NH
It is with a profound sense of
loss that the NH store announces
that Michael Grant KC1LPT is a
silent key. Michael passed
early Saturday 1/16/21 from
Covid 19 & pneumonia. He was
last with us in the store
December 10th, and has been
putting up a fight since then at
Parkland Hospital ICU in Derry,
NH. Mike joined us October 17,
2019 as a part time salesman
working 4 to 5 days a week. He
was also instrumental in getting
us through some shipping
vacancies, always willing to do
what ever was asked. He'd snort
at me - 'hey you're the boss,
I'm the hoss' and amble off in a
way that couldn't help but make
you grin. He always seemed to
have a quip or salty expression
one way or another, sleepy Pete
being his most enduring and yet
quizzical..... We never knew
what would come out next, but it
almost always made ya giggle.
Attached is a photo of
Michael from our Holiday party
in December of 2019. The only
thing really missing is his
beloved Yaesu ball cap.... He'd
try to convince us that he even
wore that to sleep. RIP friend,
good DX.
Dave Barker | N1EDU
Manager
Ham
Radio Outlet
TV DETECTOR
VANS ONCE
PROWLED THE
STREETS OF
ENGLAND
The United
Kingdom is
somewhat unique
in the world for
requiring those
households which
view broadcast
television to
purchase a
licence for the
privilege.
Initially
coming into
being with the
Wireless
Telegraphy Act
in 1923, the
licence was
required for
anyone receiving
broadcast radio,
before being
expanded to
cover television
in 1946. The
funds generated
from this
endeavour are
used as the
primary funding
for the British
Broadcasting
Corporation.
A typical TV
licence invoice.
Separate
licences for
black and white
and color sets
still exist,
with 6000 B&W
licences issued
in 2019.
Of course,
it’s all well
and good to
require a
licence, but
without some
manner of
enforcement, the
measure doesn’t
have any teeth.
Among other
measures, the
BBC have gone as
far as employing
special vans to
hunt down
illegally
operating
televisions and
protect its
precious income.
THE VAN IS
COMING FOR YOU
To ensure a
regular income,
the BBC runs
enforcement
operations under
the TV Licencing
trade name, the
entity which is
responsible for
administering
the system.
Records are kept
of licences and
their expiry
dates, and
investigations
are made into
households
suspected of
owning a
television who
have not paid
the requisite
fees. To
encourage
compliance, TV
Licencing
regularly sends
sternly worded
letters to those
who have let
their licence
lapse or have
not purchased
one. In the
event this
fails, they may
arrange a visit
from enforcement
officers. These
officers aren’t
empowered to
forcibly enter
homes, so in the
event a
homeowner
declines to
cooperate with
an
investigation,
TV Licencing
will apply for a
search warrant.
This may be on
the basis of
evidence such as
a satellite dish
or antenna
spotted on the
roof of a
dwelling, or a
remote spied on
a couch cushion
through a
window.
Alternatively, a
search warrant
may be granted
on the basis of
evidence gleaned
from a TV
detector van.
Outfitted with
equipment to
detect a TV set
in use, the vans
roam the streets
of the United
Kingdom, often
dispatched to
addresses with
lapsed or absent
TV licences. If
the van detects
that a set may
be operating and
receiving
broadcast
signals, TV
Licencing can
apply to the
court for the
requisite
warrant to take
the
investigation
further. The
vans are almost
solely used to
support warrant
applications;
the detection
van evidence is
rarely if ever
used in court to
prosecute a
licence evader.
With a warrant
in hand,
officers will
use direct
evidence such as
a television
found plugged
into an aerial
to bring an
evader to
justice through
the courts.
DETECTING
TELEVISION USAGE
An example of
the original
detector van
design, as
deployed in
1952. Note the
three loop
antennas – one
front, two rear.
The vans were
first deployed
in 1952, with
equipment
designed to pick
up the magnetic
field from the
horizontal
deflection
scanning of the
picture tube, at
10.125 KHz. Loop
antennas were
used to detect
the second
harmonic of this
signal at 20.25
KHz, which was
mixed with a
local beat
frequency
oscillator at
19.25 KHz to
create a 1 KHz
tone to indicate
to the operator
when a signal
was picked up.
Three antennas
were used, one
on the front of
the van and two
on the rear on
the left and
right sides.
When the van was
next to an
operating
television in a
house, the
signal between
the front and
side antenna
would be roughly
the same. Signal
from the right
and left
antennas could
then be compared
to determine
which side of
the street the
television was
on.
The VHF era
brought with it
a new detector
van design, this
time built on a
car such as to
avoid clearance
issues with the
tall antenna.
Once ITV
started
broadcasting in
1963, this
method of
detection became
impractical. The
two television
stations did not
synchronise
their line-scan
signals, so
neighbouring
houses watching
different
channels would
create confusing
interference for
the detector. To
get around this,
the vans
switched to
detecting the
local oscillator
of the TV set’s
superheterodyne
VHF receiver
instead. With
stations
broadcasting on
bands spanning
47 to 240 MHz,
it was
impractical at
the time to
build a tuner
and antenna to
cover this
entire range.
Instead, the
equipment was
designed to work
from 110-250MHz
tuning in the
fundamental
frequencies of
the higher
bands, or the
harmonics of the
lower frequency
oscillators. A
highly
directional
antenna was used
to hone in on a
set, and a
periscope was
installed to
allow the
operator to view
the house the
antenna was
pointing at. If
operating in the
dark, the
periscope could
instead be used
to shine a small
dot of light in
the direction of
the antenna!
’s facing, to
identify the
relevant target.
Results were
cross-referenced
with a list of
houses with
lapsed or absent
licences to help
hunt down
evaders.
A pair of
antennas was
used to search
for televisions
in the UHF era,
with the twin
setup helping to
improve
directionality.
The
introduction of
UHF
transmissions
led to further
redesigns.
Engineers again
leaned on
harmonics to
allow a single
system to cover
the full range
from low VHF to
higher UHF
frequencies. A
pair of 6′
long
log-periodic
spiral antennas
were used,
mounted on top
of the van,
which could be
varied in
spacing to
effectively tune
different
frequencies. In
practice, the
antennas would
be pointed
towards a row of
houses, while
the van was
slowly driven
along the
street. The beam
pattern of the
antenna pair
would show seven
distinct lobes
on a CRT inside
the van when a
TV was detected.
An operator
would press a
button to mark
house boundaries
on the CRT as
the van moved,
and when the
lobe pattern
centered on a
particular
house, the TVs
location was
clear. The
hardware was
further refined
over the years,
with various
antenna rigs and
detection
equipment used
as technology
marched on.
SEEKING
TELEVISION IN
MODERN TIMES
In the UHF
era, pinning
down a detected
television set
took some
finesse, with
the operator
having to
interpret
signals received
on a CRT
display.
Modern
efforts to
detect licence
evasion are
shrouded in
mystery. Modern
flatscreen
displays
receiving
digital
television
signals do not
emit as much
radio frequency
interference as
older designs,
and any such
signals detected
are less easily
correlated with
broadcast
television. An
LCD television
in the home can
just as easily
be displaying
output from a
video game
console or an
online streaming
service, with
both being usage
cases that do
not require the
owner to pay a
licence fee.
Based on an
alleged BBC
submission for a
search warrant
in recent years,
there may be
optical methods
used in which
reflected light
from a
television in a
viewer’s home is
compared to a
live broadcast
signal. The BBC
declined to
answer the
Freedom of
Information
request with any
details of their
methods, other
than to say they
have employed
vehicles and
handheld devices
in enforcement
efforts.
However, given
the multitude of
broadcast, cable
and satellite
channels now
available, the
comparison e!
ffort would
necessarily be
much harder,
leading some to
suspect the days
of the detector
van are largely
over.
While the TV
licence may have
its days
numbered with
the increased
dominance of
streaming
content, it
remains a quirky
piece of
legislation that
spawned the
development of a
technical
curiosity. If
you fancy
yourself a
television
sleuth, sound
off in the
comments with
your chosen
approach to
hunting for
televisions
watching
broadcast
content
illegally in
this modern era.
And be sure to
look over your
shoulder – you
never know when
TV Licencing
might be
knocking on your
door!
HamCation QSO Party Set
Orlando HamCation has
announced it will sponsor
the
HamCation QSO Party
over the February 13 – 14
weekend (UTC), “to create a
fun way for amateurs to
celebrate the Orlando
HamCation experience over
the air.” The HamCation QSO
Party will be a 12-hour
event on HamCation weekend.
HamCation 2021 was to host
the ARRL National
Convention, which now will
take place in 2022.
“The QSO party will
replicate the camaraderie
and social experience of
attending HamCation and
provide a way to have fun on
the radio, since HamCation
2021 will not be held due to
COVID-19,” the HamCation QSO
Party Committee said. The
HamCation QSO Party will run
from 1500 UTC on February 13
until 0300 UTC on February
14. It will be a CW and SSB
operating event on 80, 40,
20, 15, and 10 meters. Any
station may work any other
station.
Categories will be High
Power (more than 100 W
output), Low Power (100 W
output or less, but greater
than 5 W), and QRP (5 W
output or less). All
participants will be single
operators; there is no
multioperator category. The
exchange will be your name
and state/province/country,
and the outside temperature
at your location. “We are
including temperature at
your QTH as a way of
highlighting Orlando’s mild
February weather,” the
committee said.
Nine HamCation special
event stations with 1 × 1
call signs will be on the
air with combined suffixes
spelling out HamCation
(e.g., K4H,
W4A,
K4M,
etc). Each contact will
count as one point, and
stations may be worked once
on each band and mode.
Entrants will report their
scores on
www.3830Scores.com;
no logs are required. Final
results will be based on the
information submitted to the
website.
Station guest operators
must use their own call
signs and submit their
scores individually. Plaques
and certificates will be
awarded.
HamSCI Issues Call for
Abstracts for March Virtual
Workshop
HamSCI has issued a call
for abstracts for its
virtual
workshop
March 19 – 20, hosted by the
University of Scranton and
sponsored by the National
Science Foundation.
“The primary objective of
the HamSCI workshop is
to bring together the
amateur radio community and
professional scientists,”
said HamSCI founder
Nathaniel Frissell, W2NAF.
The theme is midlatitude
ionospheric physics, “which
is especially important to
us because the vast majority
of hams live in the
midlatitude regions,”
Frissell said.
Invited tutorial speakers
will be Mike Ruohoniemi of
the Virginia Tech SuperDARN
initiative and Joe
Dzekevich, K1YOW. Elizabeth
Bruton, of the Science
Museum in London, will be
the keynote speaker. Submit
abstracts by February 15.
The March conference will
also serve as a team meeting
for the
Personal Space Weather
Station
project. Frissell said he
will coordinate with
respective teams for their
abstracts.
The HamSCI workshop
welcomes abstracts related
to development of the
Personal Weather Station,
ionospheric science,
atmospheric science, radio
science, spaceweather, radio
astronomy, and any science
topic “that can be
appropriately related to the
amateur radio hobby.”
Submissions related
to the workshop theme of
midlatitude ionospheric
physics are encouraged.
Abstracts will be reviewed
by the Science/Program
Committee, and
authors will be notified no
later than March 1. Virtual
poster presentations are
welcome, but due to time
constraints, requests for
oral presentation slots may
not be guaranteed
MONDAY EDITION: FCC
warns hams not use radio's while
committing
crimes, I guess its ok to
commit crimes without a
radio....The FBI is
investigating evidence that a
woman who entered the Capitol on
Jan. 6 stole a laptop or hard
drive from Speaker Nancy
Pelosi's office and intended to
sell it to Russians....Video
of
idiots at the white
house...Let's not forget the
almost perfect
Brink's Job...the Feast of
the
Ass....
Cool Story
In 2006
I
deployed
as an
embedded
combat
advisor
for the
Afghan
National
Army. I
quickly
learned
that
icom
radios
were
routinely
used by
the
Taliban
so I
purchased
an icom
radio on
the
local
economy
and had
my
interpretter
use it
to scan
the
freqs to
pick up
any
chatter.
You
would be
amazed
how many
times
this
little
radio
warned
my
patrol
of an
impending
attack.
At the
time, I
had no
idea
about
HAM
radio. I
brought
the icom
home and
stuck it
away in
my 72-hr
kit
where it
has
resided
ever
since.
Long
story
short, I
just
began
studying
for my
Technician
license
and
realized
what I
had...
along
with the
disappointment
that it
won't do
70 cm.
In
retrospect,
I can
probably
credit
my
deployments
to
Afghanistan
as my
first
lessons
in VHF
and UHF
(TACSAT)
comms,
but I'm
quickly
learning
that it
was just
the tip
of the
iceberg....I
got this
off of
facebook
ARRL on the Purpose of
Amateur Radio
For over 100 years
amateur radio and
ARRL — the National
Association for Amateur
Radio® — have stood for
the development of the
science and art of
communications, public
service, and the enhancement
of international goodwill.
Amateur Radio’s long history
and service to the public
has solidified the
well-earned reputation that
“Amateur Radio saves lives.”
Amateur Radio Operators,
due to their history of
public service, their
training, and the
requirement that they be
licensed by the FCC have
earned their status as a
component of critical
communications
infrastructure and as a
reliable resource “when all
else fails."
Hell could freeze
over here and the police
would not ask amateur radio
to save the day...ARRL needs
to get real!
Amateur Radio is
about development of
communications and
responsible public service.
Its misuse is inconsistent
with its history of service
and its statutory charter.
ARRL does not support its
misuse for purposes
inconsistent with these
values and purposes.
Does price buy
performance or satisfaction
in an HF transceiver?
Frank Howell
K4FMH of ICQ
podcast is talking on this
subject at the Denby Dale
amateur radio club on Weds
January 20th at 7.30pm
(1930utc).
All amateurs are welcome
- our meetings are held on
Zoom ID 842 5221 3056
Frank is following up the
excellent talk at our last
meeting given by Rob
Sherwood on radio
performance . This is
available on the club you
tube channel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZpUYRkbMeA
QSO Today with Clint
Turner KA7OEI
Clint Turner,
KA7OEI, is an
experimenter, builder, and
operator on all bands and
modes.
He shares his background
in microwave communications,
EME or Moonbounce, and his
involvement in the Northern
Utah Web SDR Project, an
amazing on-line resource
hams who want to listen to
all of the low bands with
waterfall display, at the
same time.
https://www.qsotoday.com/podcasts/KA7OEI
Germany dealt with over
3,500 radio interference
complaints in 2020
Germany's Federal Network
Agency BNetzA take radio
interference seriously and in
2020 dealt with over 3,500 cases
A translation of a DARC
post reads:
Despite the
corona pandemic, the testing and
measuring service of the Federal
Network Agency determined and
eliminated over 3,500 radio
interference and electromagnetic
incompatibilities on site. Every
fourth incident related to a
security or system-relevant
radio service, for example from
authorities and organizations
with security tasks, aircraft
radio and public cellular
networks. "We guarantee
interference-free communication
for system-relevant radio and
telecommunications services even
during lockdown," says Jochen
Homann, President of the Federal
Network Agency.
Comprehensive hygiene and
distance regulations secured
field work and on-site order
processing from March onwards.
The availability of the fault
acceptance department and the
nationwide operational readiness
of the testing and measuring
service was also guaranteed
around the clock, 7 days a week.
The testing and measuring
service is always in demand when
impairments to radio and
telecommunications services have
no operational causes, but are
caused by unwanted or
impermissible radio emissions or
other electromagnetic effects.
In addition to radio
interference processing and
preventive reviews of frequency
assignments, the testing and
measurement service monitors,
among other things, the
implementation of supply
obligations in mobile
communications and compliance
with limit values for
electromagnetic environmental
compatibility. In addition, the
testing and measurement service
searches for frequency uses
without frequency allocation and
ensures at major events that
frequencies can be used without
interference for a wide variety
of radio applications.
The testing and measuring
service of the Federal Network
Agency is represented with
measuring vehicles at 19
locations in Germany in order to
carry out tasks across the
board. In addition, an
accredited measuring laboratory
for market surveillance and a
satellite measuring point are
operated. Consumers and
companies who want to report
radio interference can contact
the radio interference
department of the Federal
Network Agency. This can be
reached at any time on tel.
04821-895555 or by email at
funkstoerung (at)
bnetza.de.
Here it
is clarified whether the
reported fault falls within the
legal competence of the Federal
Network Agency. If the
disruption is of an operational
nature, the inquirer will be
advised who to contact. This
service and the fault handling
by the inspection and measuring
service on site are free of
charge for the fault reporter.
Even those who cause disruptions
do not have to fear any fees,
provided that the disruptions
are caused through no fault of
their own.
WEEKEND EDITION: Blowing
like hell here on the rock, 1
inch of rain expected is better
than snow...Lysol
vintage ad ....
Neill A. Williams-K1YPM
|
 |
Greenland - Neill A.
Williams, 91, of
Greenland, passed away
peacefully on January 7,
2021 at Portsmouth
Regional Hospital
following a brief
illness.
Neill
was born on May 20,
1929, to Roy and Clara
(Rose) Williams, in
Duluth, Minnesota. He
was raised in Duluth,
and graduated from
Duluth Central High
School with the Class of
1948. Neill attended the
University of Minnesota
in Minneapolis prior to
enlisting in the U.S.
Navy in 1950.
Neill served 20 years
active duty in the Navy
and was stationed in
California, New Jersey,
London, England, Rhode
Island, Tennessee,
Puerto Rico, Maine and
finally Lakehurst, NJ,
attaining the rank of
Chief Aviation
Electronics Technician.
Following his active
duty tenure, Neill
transferred to the Naval
Fleet Reserve, where he
spent an additional 10
years on reserve status.
He officially retired
from his 30 years of
naval service in 1980
with an Honorable
Discharge.
It
was while Neill was
stationed in London that
he met his future wife
Violet McIver, and they
were married on October
20, 1954.
Following his retirement
from active duty, Neill
worked as a
manufacturing engineer
in the electronic
weapons industry for the
US Army and US Navy
departments. He retired
from the weapons
industry in 1990 after
20 years. In retirement,
Neill worked as a real
estate broker, and spent
13 years working for the
NHDOT as a toll
attendant.
Neill
became active in Lions
Club International after
moving to Portsmouth, NH
in 1971. He joined the
Portsmouth Lions Club in
1972, and worked
tirelessly supporting
the Lion’s mission. He
was past president of
the local club, and
served as Zone Chairman
and Cabinet Secretary
for District 44H. Neill
served as president of
the NH Lions Sight and
Hearing Foundation. In
1992 Neill became the
District Governor of
Lions district 44H, and
had the honor of being
installed at the Lions
International Conference
held in Hong Kong,
China. Neill was also
the recipient of the
Melvin jones Award.
Neill had a lifelong
interest in being a ham
operator since
assembling a radio at
age 13. He held a ham
operator's license for
73 years, and his call
letters 'K1YPM' were
known by many fellow
operators across the
country. Neill was known
to be up at 4:30 AM many
mornings to connect and
chat with his ham
buddies. He was a member
of the Portsmouth Radio
Amateur Club, and served
as vice president.
Neill was
a member of the Rye
Congregational Church,
and served on the
Mission Committee and
the Policy and By-Laws
Committee. He was a
proud member of
Greenland’s Veteran’s
Organization, and a
member of American
Legion Post 6.
Neill is survived by his
daughter Myra Fishbein
and her husband James of
Greenland, his son Allen
Williams and his wife
Ann of Manchester. He is
further survived by
grandchildren Jennifer
(Ira) Lehrer of
Greenland, Morgan (Greg)
Henneman of Belair, MD,
Jillian (Michael)
Fishbein-Gibson of
Hamden, CT and Harrison
Williams of Manchester
and great grandchildren
Alec and Jack Lehrer,
Avery and Caroline
Henneman, and Charles
and Crosby Gibson. He is
also survived by several
nieces and nephews.
Neill was
predeceased by his
parents, his loving wife
Violet, and his sisters
Donna Isaccson and
Janice Orlowski.
Neill will be
remembered as a man of
utmost honesty and
integrity, and a true
gentleman. He had a
profound love for his
family and his country.
Funeral services
with military honors
will be held at 1 P.M.
Friday, June 4, 2021 at
the New Hampshire State
Veterans Cemetery in
Boscawen. In Neill’s
memory, donations may be
made to the
Lions Sight and Hearing
Foundation of NH Inc-/
P.O. Box 970, Concord,
NH 03302-0970.
Arrangements are by the
Remick & Gendron Funeral
Home-Crematory, Hampton.
To send flowers or a
memorial gift to the family
of Neill A. Williams please
visit our
Sympathy Store.
Foundations of Amateur
Radio
The APRS of it
all ...
Amateur radio is a living
anachronism. We have this
heady mix of ancient and
bleeding edge, never more
evident than in a digital
mode called Automatic Packet
Reporting System or APRS.
It's an amateur mode that's
used all over the place to
exchange messages like GPS
coordinates, radio balloon
and vehicle tracking data,
battery voltages, weather
station telemetry, text,
bulletins and increasingly
other information as part of
the expanding universe of
the Internet Of Things.
There are mechanisms for
message priority,
point-to-point messages,
announcements and when
internet connected computers
are involved, solutions for
mapping, email and other
integrations. The
International Space Station
has an APRS repeater
on-board. You'll also find
disaster management like
fire fighting, earthquake
and propagation reporting
uses for APRS. There's tools
like an SMS gateway that
allows you to send SMS via
APRS if you're out of mobile
range. There's software
around that allows you to
post to Twitter from APRS.
You can even generate APRS
packets using your mobile
phone.
In my radio travels I'd
come across the aprs.fi
website many times. It's a
place that shows you various
devices on the APRS network.
You can see vehicles as they
move around, radio repeater
information, weather, even
historic charts of messages,
so you can see temperatures
over time, or battery
voltage, or solar power
generation, or whatever the
specific APRS device is
sending.
As part of my exploration
into all things new and
exciting I thought I'd start
a new adventure with
attempting to listen to the
APRS repeater on the
International Space Station.
I'm interested in decoding
APRS packets. Seeing what's
inside them and what kinds
of messages I can hear in my
shack. Specifically for the
experiment at hand I wanted
to hear what the ISS had to
say.
After testing some
recommended tools and after
considerable time hunting I
stumbled on multimon-ng. I
should mention that it
started life as multimon by
Tom HB9JNX, which he wrote
in 1996. In 2012 Elias Oenal
wanted to use multimon to
decode from his new RTL-SDR
dongle and in the end he
patched and brought the code
into this century and
multimon-ng was born. It's
available on Linux, MacOS
and Windows and it's under
active development.
It's a single
command-line tool that takes
an audio input and produces
a text output and it's a
great way to see what's
happening under the hood
which is precisely what I
want when I'm attempting to
learn something new.
In this case, my computer
was already configured with
a radio. I can record what
the radio receives from the
computer microphone and I
can play audio to the radio
via the computer speaker. My
magical tool, multimon-ng
has the ability to record
audio and decode it using a
whole raft of in-built
decoders. For my test I
wanted to use the APRS
decoder, cunningly disguised
as an AFSK1200 de-modulator.
I'll get to that in a
moment.
The actual process is as
simple as tuning your radio
in FM mode to the local APRS
frequency and telling
multimon-ng to listen. Every
minute or so you'll see an
APRS packet or six turn up
on your screen.
The process for the ISS
is only slightly different
in that the APRS frequency
is affected by Doppler
shift, so I used gpredict to
change the frequency as
required; multimon-ng
continued to happily decode
the audio signal.
I said that I'd get back
to AFSK1200. The 1200
represents the speed, 1200
Baud. The AFSK represents
Audio Frequency Shift Keying
and it's a way to encode
digital information by
changing the frequency of an
audio signal. One way to
think of that is having two
different tones, one
representing a binary zero,
the other representing a
binary one. Play them over a
loud-speaker and you have
AFSK. Do that at 1200 Baud
and you have AFSK1200.
When you do listen to
AFSK and you know what a
dial-up modem sounds like,
it will come as no surprise
that they use the same
technique to encode digital
information. Might have to
dig up an old dial-up modem
and hook it up to my radio
one of these days.
Speaking of ancient. The
hero of our story, APRS,
dates back to the early days
of microcomputers. The era
of the first two computers
in my life, the Apple II and
the Commodore VIC-20. Bob
WB4APR implemented the first
ancestor of APRS on an Apple
II in 1982. Then in 1984 he
used a VIC-20 to report the
position and status of
horses in a 160km radius
using APRS.
As for the International
Space Station, the APRS
repeater is currently
switched off in favour of
the cross-band voice
repeater, so I'll have to
wait a little longer to
decode something from space.
I'm Onno
VK6FLAB
Harmful Coronavirus content on Loveworld breaks
broadcasting rules for second
time
An Ofcom investigation has
found that religious satellite
television channel,
Loveworld, breached broadcasting
rules for the second time in a
year.
During the course
of a 29-hour programme - The
Global Day of Prayer - news
content and
sermons presented potentially
harmful, unsubstantiated
theories
about the Coronavirus, without providing
adequate protection for viewers.
Some of
the statements claimed that the
pandemic is a “planned”
event created by the “deep
state” for nefarious
purposes, and that
the vaccine is a “sinister” means
of administering “nanochips”
to control and
harm people. Some statements claimed that “fraudulent” testing had
been carried out to deceive the
public about the existence of
the virus and the scale of the
pandemic. Others linked the
cause of Covid-19 to the roll
out of 5G technology.
Ofcom stresses that
legitimate debate about
the official response to the
Coronavirus pandemic is
fundamental to holding public
authorities to account during a
global health
crisis - particularly when
public freedoms
are curtailed and complex policy
decisions are
being taken. However, the
potentially harmful claims made
during this programme were
unsupported by any factual
evidence and went entirely without challenge.
Loveworld’s failure to put
these unsubstantiated statements into
context risked serious harm to
its audience. They had
the potential to undermine
confidence in public health
measures put in place to
tackle Covid-19, at a time
when cases, hospital admissions
and deaths were rising in the
UK.
Given these serious failings,
we concluded
that the Licensee, Loveworld Limited, did
not adequately protect viewers
from the potentially harmful
content included in the
programme, and that its news
reports were not duly accurate.
We have
directed Loveworld Limited not
to repeat the programme, and to
broadcast a summary of
our findings. Given the
seriousness of this breach
and that this is Loveworld Limited’s
second of this nature, we are
also considering whether any
further sanction is warranted.
Amateur Radio
Newsline Report 2255for Friday
January 15th 2021
HAMVENTION 2021 CANCELLED
JIM/ANCHOR: With
distribution of the COVID-19
vaccine falling behind schedule
in the U.S., organizers of
Hamvention 2021 have called off
the annual event for the second
consecutive year. The executive
committee posted the news on
various social media outlets on
Monday, January 11th, citing
several setbacks related to the
pandemic, with the vaccine delay
named among them.
The
posting said: [quote] "We make
this difficult decision for the
safety of our guests and
vendors. Those who had their
tickets deferred last year will
be deferred again." [endquote]
The theme for this year's
Hamvention was to have been "The
Gathering." Instead, a
Hamvention QSO Party is planned
instead on the dates the event
was to have taken place.
The organizers added: [quote]
"We’ll be back next year!!!"
**
IARU EVENT ADOPTS
THEME SPURRED BY PANDEMIC
JIM/ANCHOR: The same
pandemic that has forced
cancellation of so many events
has also given radio amateurs a
reason to step up their game on
the air. One of the next big
events has been announced by the
International Amateur Radio
Union. Jason Daniels VK2LAW has
those details.
JASON: The
COVID-19 pandemic has provided
inspiration for a World Amateur
Radio Day theme similar to a
popular campaign in the UK. The
IARU has chosen the theme of
"Home But Never Alone" when
World Amateur Radio Day kicks
off on Sunday April the 18th.
The theme also carries forward
the activities that sprang up
around the world last year, from
special event stations that
reminded people to stay home and
safe, to local wellness nets
where the elderly and others in
isolation could check in
regularly.
According to
the IARU, on-the-air activity
reached unprecedented levels and
participation in major contests
soared in 2020.
World
Amateur Radio Day is observed
every year on the 18th of April
to mark the date in 1925 that
the International Amateur Radio
Union was formed in Paris.
**
EARLY-BIRD TICKETS
AVAILABLE FOR QSO TODAY'S 2ND
VIRTUAL EXPO
JIM/ANCHOR:
Early bird tickets have become
available for the second QSO
Today Expo, which is being held
online on March 13th and 14th.
Forty-eight hours of panel
discussions, kit-building
workshops and an array of new
speakers will be part of the
experience, which is being
organized in partnership with
the ARRL in the United States.
The wide range of topics
includes 3D printer basics;
Arduino in the shack; and
DXpeditioning to the DXCC's Most
Wanted locations.
Early
bird tickets are $10. During the
event itself, the tickets will
be $12.50. Tickets to the live
event include access to the
30-day on-demand period that
follows, continuing until April
12.
The first QSO Today
Expo held last August attracted
more than 16,000 participants.
To register visit
qsotodayhamexpo.com.
**
REVERSE BEACON NETWORK ADDS
NODE IN FINLAND
JIM/ANCHOR: Researchers whose
studies focus on propagation
have gained a new tool in their
arsenal. It's in Finland - and
Ed Durrant DD5LP tells us about
it.
ED: A new node has
become active in northern
Finland as part of the Reverse
Beacon Network, thanks to the
support of the Yasme Foundation.
The new node was set-up at Radio
Arcala OH8X, near the Lapland
border to help in the study of a
propagation mode known as the
Polar Path. This propagation
occurs in northern Europe during
winter. At night the Polar Path
provides several hours' worth of
coverage over North America.
Radio Arcala's node will
become one of the research tools
being used by the researchers in
that part of the world. The
Yasme Foundation's grant
programme was announced last
year, providing grants to
regions studying reception
reports and conducting
geophysical research. A
Yasme-funded node was installed
last October in Tunisia,
bolstering the Reverse Beacon
Network's presence in northern
Africa.
(WIA, EHAM.NET)
**
POPULAR TV PERSONALITY
GETS HAM RADIO LICENSE
JIM/ANCHOR: It seems that "Last
Man Standing" actor Tim Allen
isn't the only main player on a
TV
show to get a ham radio
ticket. Meet Donna Snow, who has
been a fixture on a popular DIY
Network program in the
U.S. Kevin Trotman N5PRE
introduces her to us.
KEVIN: Donna Snow of the
long-running reality show "Texas
Flip 'N Move" recently became
Donna Snow W5SML. Although her
call sign is a lot newer than
the name she made for herself on
the popular home-makeover
series, she is hoping for
changes in her own shack soon.
Inspired by her ham radio mentor
Rex King W5EAK, a Vietnam
veteran and a former Navy
radioman and officer, Donna is
exploring ways to use ham radio
as a tool to connect veterans
struggling with life after
military service. She has
already accomplished that
through renovation projects that
included making a bathroom safer
for a Vietnam vet, and repairing
a flood-damaged American Legion
Post. She is presently redoing
the yard outside the home of a
widow of a veteran who fought at
Iwo Jima.
While studying
to upgrade to General class, she
is also making plans for a TV
show featuring amateur radio
and, of course, the veterans
themselves. Her progress reports
appear every week on her QRZ
page.
Donna told Newsline
in an email: [quote] "I am on a
mission to tell everyone about
ham radio and the benefits it
offers to all, no matter their
age." [endquote] She said she is
living the spirit of her vanity
call sign W5SML - SML for "Snow
Much Love."
For Amateur
Radio Newsline I'm Kevin Trotman
N5PRE.
**
LAUNCH OF
SPAIN'S HAM RADIO SATELLITE
POSTPONED TO MARCH
JIM/ANCHOR: Two ham radio
satellites from Spain have had
their launches put off for a few
more weeks. Jeremy Boot G4NJH
explains.
JEREMY: A delay
by SpaceX has postponed Spain's
scheduled amateur radio
satellite launch on January
14th. The departure of the
EASAT-2 and Hades satellites is
now on the calendar for sometime
in March to coincide with the
Starlink mission.
According to the AMSAT-EA
website, both satellites are
carrying an FM / FSK repeater
and are capable of voice and
digital communications. EASAT-2
is assigned the callsign AM5SAT
and Hades is assigned AM6SAT.
SpaceX is to launch the
satellites via the in-space
transportation provider Momentus
aboard the Falcon 9 Launcher.
**
SPACECRAFT COPIES FM
SIGNAL NEAR JUPITER'S MOON
JIM/ANCHOR: Think of this as
perhaps the world's tiniest
space QSO. NASA reports that its
Juno spacecraft which is
orbiting Jupiter copied an FM
radio signal from its largest
moon, Ganymede (GANNY-MEED). It
turns out that the radio
emissions were the result of
electrons oscillating at a lower
rate than they were spinning,
causing them to amplify radio
waves. Juno picked it up as it
was passing by a polar region of
Jupiter where the magnetic field
lines connect to Ganymede.
It's called "cyclotron maser
instability" and it's a natural
occurrence. The excitement only
lasted 5 seconds -- but it was a
first.
**
HAMCATION
NAMES NEIL RAPP WB9VPG 'EDUCATOR
OF YEAR'
JIM/ANCHOR: This
next story is a personal one,
celebrating one member of our
Newsline family. Our anchor and
correspondent Neil Rapp WB9VPG,
who teaches high school
chemistry in Indiana, has been
named Carole Perry Educator of
the Year by Orlando HamCation.
Newsline editor Caryn Eve Murray
KD2GUT spoke to Neil about his
commmitment to amateur radio
education.
CARYN:
Licensed since the age of 5,
Neil Rapp knows better than most
of us that ham radio is the best
teacher.
NEIL: Especially
when I got into high school, ham
radio helped me understand
science. When I got to
Chemistry, when everybody else
was having a hard time, I
already knew my metric system,
when I got to Physics, I already
knew Ohm's law -- because I did
all of that when I was 5.
CARYN: Those early lessons
became the foundation for the
path his life took as sponsor of
school ham clubs, in the ARRL
Teacher Institute and as one of
the founders and camp director
of Youth on the Air for IARU
Region 2. For Neil, ham radio
doesn't get old -- it gets
YOUNG.
NEIL: Yeah we do
have youth in ham radio and we
do have kids doing great things
with it. There are some
opportunities to make sure this
continues. It amazes me that the
kids that are really into CW at
a time when a lot of people
didn't want to learn CW and
that's what kept them out of the
hobby. They're also into all
these cool new digital modes
that are becoming more efficient
and setting the pace for the
commercial radio industry and
cell phones and public service
and all the digital stuff. A lot
of that came from ham radio.
CARYN: His next project? A
Youth on the Air mini-camp that
mixes science with the science
of socializing.
NEIL:
What we are trying to do is
build some of those social
connections between the kids and
that's why there is a lot of
YOTA time that's at an amusement
park, at Dave & Buster's, at
this place and that place that
may not have a thing to do with
ham radio because it's social
interaction time. The whole YOTA
thing isn't just learning about
radio and learning about
technology; it's getting the
social aspect there so that kids
know other kids. We have seen in
Europe that perpetuates the
hobby. That keeps the kids in
the hobby.
CARYN: So
congratulations Neil. Your
well-deserved Carole Perry
trophy will now sit beside your
autographed oscillator from
Carole's Youth Forum at
Hamvention.
For Amateur
Radio Newsline I'm Caryn Eve
Murray KD2GUT.
**
COUNTDOWN TO PLUTO'S BIG
ANNIVERSARY
JIM/ANCHOR:
Whether or not you still think
of Pluto as a planet, its
discovery is still something to
celebrate. Randy Sly W4XJ tells
us why.
RANDY: The
Northern Arizona DX Association
is about to launch the first
event in its 10-year special
event countdown to the 100th
anniversary of its discovery in
the Kuiper (KY-PURR) Belt. Be
listening for club members
operating between February 13th
and the 21st as W7P. They'll be
at the Lowell Observatory from
which Pluto was first spotted
and their home QTHs. One of the
operators will be Doug Tombaugh
N3PDT, nephew of Pluto's
discoverer, Clyde Tombaugh. He
will operate as W7P/0.
There will be special QSL cards
each year leading up to the
100th anniversary event. A
certificate with endorsement
stickers for each of the 10
years of the special event and
for a contact with Doug and his
team will be available later as
well, Visit the QRZ.COM page for
more details.
(QRZ)
**
FANS OF RADIO'S FIRST VOICE MODE
PREP FOR AM RALLY
JIM/ANCHOR: Amplitude
Modulation, or AM, was the first
voice mode over radio. It has
three parts - a carrier, an
upper sideband, and a lower
sideband - and in just two
weeks, it will be gaining a
fourth part: The AM Rally. This
is an annual event designed to
encourage AM activity for
newcomers as well as longtime
fans who may be firing up their
vacuum tube rigs to make
contacts.
This year's
event will be held from 0000Z on
Saturday, February 6th to 0700Z
Monday February 8th - or for
those in the United States, 7
p.m. Eastern Time on Friday
February 5th to 2 a.m. Eastern
time Monday February 8th.
Organizers said YLs in
particular are invited to
return, based on the success of
last year's "Ladies' Night"
feature. All types of radios are
permitted, from modified
military and broadcast equipment
to homebrew and those
commercially manufactured.
For additional details and
to find operating and logging
guidance, visit the website
amrally dot com (amrally.com)
(CLARK BURGARD N1BCG)
**
WORLD OF DX
In
the World of DX, AMSAT
Argentina, LU7AA will celebrate
the 31st anniversary of the
LUSAT satellite (LO-19) between
January 16th and 24th. Be
listening on the HF bands on
SSB, CW and the digital modes. A
special certificate is
available. Visit QRZ.COM for
additional details.
In
Israel, listen for 4X0RMN to be
operating from the Ramon Crater,
Israel's largest national park,
in the Negev desert between the
30th of January and the 1st of
February. Send QSLs to 4X6ZM,
LoTW and eQSL. A certificate
will be available for working
three out of the four special
stations that are operating as
part of the ongoing Land of
Craters Program that kicked off
last year. For more details
visit QRZ.COM.
Be
listening for Bo, OZ1DJJ
operating in his spare time as
OX3LX from Tasiilaq
(TAZZY-Uh-LACK) Island in
Greenland through the 30th of
January. Send QSLs to LoTW, Club
Log's OQRS or direct to OZ0J.
KICKER: GOT A MINUTE? ER, 59
SECONDS?
JIM/ANCHOR: Got
a minute? Or maybe a millisecond
less? It's time for Graham Kemp
VK4BB and our final story of the
week.
GRAHAM: Things
might just get a little
challenging for UTC -
Coordinated Universal Time, that
is - the time-keeping system so
familiar to us hams who pursue
precision in our DX contacts or
use some of the newer digital
modes. As reported on the UK
news website, The Telegraph,
scientists are now suggesting
that the world's atomic clocks,
which control UTC, shorten the
minute so that UTC can better
keep pace with the irregular
rate of the Earth's rotation,
which most people measure using
the less precise method known as
"solar time."
Let's face
it, it's hard to stay in sync.
When the Earth's rotation was
seen to be slowing, scientists
added something called a "leap
second" to the end of a
particular year. They've done
this 27 times since 1972 to keep
atomic clocks and UTC sympatico
with solar time. Scientists
believe Earth's 24-hour rotation
has grown swifter now, making
the days ever-so-slightly
shorter. They also believe 2021
could well be the shortest year
we've had in many decades. They
say this will ultimately have an
impact on navigation systems and
satellite communications and
anything else that requires
precision in cosmic timekeeping.
This very subject is up for
discussion at the World
Radiocommunication Conference in
2023 which is at least two years
- and many, many, many, many
seconds away.
Now that's
a thought that could probably
make our own heads spin a lot
faster too.
Having the
time of my life with that report
for Amateur Radio Newsline I'm
Graham Kemp VK4BB.
FRIDAY EDITION: I
happened upon 3927, the premier
redneck net, and it is usually
quite amusing but last night
N1FM picked a fight with Bruce
N4MTC. so these two talked over
each other for 45 minutes
straight. Better watch out or
Riley or the new improved ARRL
OO program will punish you. Look
up N1FM on yahoo, he is no
stranger to trouble. Want a
laugh, tune in some night.....I
was on 3928 early in the afternoon
yesterday and had a nice qso
with Gil, I was running 700
watts, ladder line in the shack
to a balun, the whole house lit
up with a siren from my smoke
detectors. I ran from the second
floor to the basement, no fire.
It appears my rf set them off
from the Icom 7600 fed in to the Acom
1010 amplifier, that is a first...any
ideas??????.....The
best and worst products at
Costco.....What's going on with
the
helicopters over CA?...Covid
map of USA....
CHESS CubeSat
Constellation to carry
FUNcube transponders
In 2020, a project
between AMSAT-UK, AMSAT-NL
and Swiss universities
started with the aim of
equipping two Swiss
satellites with a linear
transponder for amateur
radio
With a linear
transponder, several QSOs
can take place
simultaneously. The
satellites can be operated
in CW/SSB with the simplest
equipment. The satellites
also include features for
classroom demonstrations and
experiments. In numerous
teleconference discussions,
the technical possibilities
could be sounded out and the
realisation prepared.
The CHESS
[Constellation of High
Energy Swiss Satellites]
project includes two
satellites, which will be
built simultaneously and
later launched as a
constellation. Both will
provide a linear transponder
for amateur radio use. The
first satellite will have a
nearly circular orbit at an
altitude of 400 km. The
second will have an
elliptical orbit with an
altitude of 350×1000 km.
The satellites
themselves are a project of
the École polytechnique
fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)
with support from the
Lucerne University of
Applied Sciences and Arts
(HSLU – Institute of
Electrical Engineering IET),
the University of Bern, the
Valais University of Applied
Sciences and Arts (HES-SO),
the Haute École Neuchâtel
and the Swiss Federal
Institute of Technology ETH
Zurich. The amateur radio
payload is a project of
AMSAT-UK/-NL.
On 18
December 2020, the
successful system
requirements review took
place. The project
coordination between CHESS
and AMSAT lies with the
Amateur Radio Association of
the Lucerne University of
Applied Sciences and Arts –
Technology & Architecture,
Horw.
The Swiss AMSAT
Operators provide
information about the CHESS
project at
https://www.amsat-hb.org/funcube-chess/
EPFL Spacecraft Team
https://www.epflspacecraftteam.com/chess-1
Ham radio centre at
Ganga Sagar
By January 14 (Makar
Sankranti) around 780,000
pilgrims had arrived at
Ganga Sagar and radio
amateurs from the West
Bengal Radio Club
established a QO-100
satellite ground station on
the island
The Millenium Post
newspaper reports
In
a bid to help people access
information when phones and
conventional broadcast
systems fail during natural
calamity, Ham radio
operators have installed
amateur radio satellite
communication (using
Qatar-OSCAR-100 the first
geostationary amateur radio
transponder) at Ganga Sagar
Island.
"Through
this system, we will be able
to send live video, photos
and data of the situation
after the natural disaster
anywhere and help can also
be sought by making a voice
call," said Ambarish
Nag Biswas VU2JFA,
custodian and secretary of
West Bengal Radio Club
(WBRC), an organisation of
ham radio enthusiasts in the
state.
Read the full
story at
http://www.millenniumpost.in/kolkata/ham-radio-centre-at-ganga-sagar-429289
Tips on operating a
Satellite while Roving
In Episode 6 of DX
Engineering’s Amateur Radio
Satellite series,
Sean Kutzko, KX9X,
explores the fun of
operating your amateur radio
gear from a grid square
other than the one where you
live
Sean and four
top U.S. rovers have plenty
of tips for your next
portable satellite
adventure.
Watch Tips
on operating a Satellite
while Roving
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1yWQ2-kGEQ
Ofcom: Technologies
shaping communications for
the future
A new Ofcom report shines
a light on the innovative,
emerging technologies that
could shape the
communications industry in
the future
Communications services and
the technologies used to
deliver them are constantly
evolving. As the UK’s
communications regulator,
it’s vital we are aware of
developments in the sectors
we oversee and how they may
change in the coming years –
particularly as we take on
new responsibilities such as
regulating online harms.
So last year we put out
a call for people to send us
their thoughts on the
emerging technologies that
have the potential to
transform communications in
the future. We received
contributions from
companies, organisations and
technology experts from
across the world.
Today we have published a
report highlighting examples
of the technologies
submitted to us – including
analysis of how each
technology would make a
difference to people and
businesses.
Innovative technologies to
support the rollout of
better mobile and broadband
services; the role of
satellite technology in
connecting the hardest to
reach areas; and exciting
developments in the
broadcast sector – such as
enhanced, bespoke coverage
of sporting events – all
feature in the report. New
immersive technologies
allowing people to touch –
and even smell – at a
distance, are also
highlighted.
Download
the report from
https://www.ofcom.org.uk/consultations-and-statements/category-2/emerging-technologies
Further detail on these
technologies is explained in
a series of videos we have
published alongside the
report.
https://www.ofcom.org.uk/consultations-and-statements/category-2/emerging-technologies/video-contributionsOfcom:
Technologies shaping
communications for the
future
A new Ofcom
report shines a light on the
innovative, emerging
technologies that could
shape the communications
industry in the future
Communications services
and the technologies used to
deliver them are constantly
evolving. As the UK’s
communications regulator,
it’s vital we are aware of
developments in the sectors
we oversee and how they may
change in the coming years –
particularly as we take on
new responsibilities such as
regulating online harms.
So last year we put out
a call for people to send us
their thoughts on the
emerging technologies that
have the potential to
transform communications in
the future. We received
contributions from
companies, organisations and
technology experts from
across the world.
Today we have published a
report highlighting examples
of the technologies
submitted to us – including
analysis of how each
technology would make a
difference to people and
businesses.
Innovative technologies to
support the rollout of
better mobile and broadband
services; the role of
satellite technology in
connecting the hardest to
reach areas; and exciting
developments in the
broadcast sector – such as
enhanced, bespoke coverage
of sporting events – all
feature in the report. New
immersive technologies
allowing people to touch –
and even smell – at a
distance, are also
highlighted.
Download
the report from
https://www.ofcom.org.uk/consultations-and-statements/category-2/emerging-technologies
Further detail on these
technologies is explained in
a series of videos we have
published alongside the
report.
https://www.ofcom.org.uk/consultations-and-statements/category-2/emerging-technologies/video-contributions
Just one week until the
Winter 2021 AM QSO Party!
It is time to get those
aerials checked and your
vintage sets warmed or your
modern transceiver tuned to
AM. This can only mean one
thing, the Winter AM
QSO Party 2021 will
soon be with us!
The event will take place
from 18:00 UTC on Friday
22nd until 17:59 on Sunday
24th January 2021 and takes
place in 'operating windows'
on 160, 80, 40, 20, 15 and
10 metre bands. The event is
open to amateurs all over
Europe and beyond!
This fun, non contest
event is organised by the AM
Amateur Radio Europe
Facebook group and has
categories for all licence
levels to take part in.
Full details of the event
can be found at:
https://amqsoparty.wixsite.com/mysite
If you have any interest
in AM operating on the
amateur bands, please do
join our growing Facebook
community at:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/65658254
1370211
I hope to work some of
you during the event and I
shall publish another
reminder via Southgate News
on the 22nd.
Vy 73,
Simon Taylor
MW0NWM
Anyone remember this gear?
THURSDAY EDITION: Tony's
DX report includes our very
own Mick-N1RPH, check
Monday!...Listening on 7200 get
you riled up, try
self massage to
relax....Best of what is
new in 2020...I always
wondered why plastic packs of
blueberries had an elastic band
around them. I threw the band
away yesterday and grabbed the
blueberries this morning for
cereal....shit, blueberries all
ove the kitchen floor. ....
Israel's radio hams lose
access to much Microwave
spectrum
Radio amateurs in Israel
have lost much of their
spectrum between 1 and 6 GHz
and suffered a draconian
power reduction on 10 GHz
Israel has three
classes of amateur license:
Class A (Advanced) up to
1500 watts
Class B
(General) up to 250 watts
Class C (Novice) 100
watts on 4 HF bands, lower
power on some higher bands
Israel's Ministry of
Communications amateur
allocations document
produced on November 17,
2020, shows these changes to
amateur allocations between
1 and 10.5 GHz:
The
23cm band (formerly
1240-1300 MHz) has been
reduced to just 1260-1270
MHz and can only be used by
Class A holders for
Satellite uplink with a
maximum power of 25 watts.
The 13 cm band
appears to have remained the
same, Class A and Class B
have:
2320-2340 MHz 15
watts
2400-2402 100
watts
2402-2450 100
milliwatts
9 cm band
which used to be 3400-3475
MHz has been entirely lost
6 cm band was
5650-5850 MHz now only the
satellite segments remain
5650-5670 MHz 50 watts and
5830-5850 MHz 200
milliwatts. Only Class A can
use them and it appears to
be satellite only operation.
3 cm band has suffered a
dramatic power reduction
10.00-10.45 GHz maximum
power is now just 100
milliwatts and is Class A
only (it was 100w Class A,
25w Class B)
10.45-10.50
is satellite only, Class A
100 watts, Class B 25 watts
A PDF of Israel's new
amateur allocations is at
https://www.gov.il/BlobFolder/service/radio-amateurs-certificates/he/RadioAmateur_
terms-of-allocation-of-frequency-band.pdf
Contests:
Information from WA7BMN
Not too much excitement this
week.
|
+ RSGB Hope QSO
Party |
1400Z-1530Z, Jan 14
(SSB) |
|
+ Hungarian DX
Contest |
1200Z,
Jan 16 to 1159Z, Jan 17
|
|
+ PRO Digi Contest
|
1200Z,
Jan 16 to 1159Z, Jan 17
|
|
+ North American QSO
Party, SSB |
1800Z,
Jan 16 to 0559Z, Jan 17
|
|
+ NA Collegiate
Championship, SSB |
1800Z,
Jan 16 to 0559Z, Jan 17
|
|
+ Feld Hell Sprint
|
2000Z,
Jan 16 to 0559Z, Jan 17
|
|
+ Run for the Bacon
QRP Contest |
2300Z,
Jan 17 to 0100Z, Jan 18
|
|
+ Worldwide Sideband
Activity Contest |
0100Z-0159Z, Jan 19 |
|
+ CWops Mini-CWT
Test |
1300Z-1400Z, Jan 20 |
|
+ CWops Mini-CWT
Test |
1900Z-2000Z, Jan 20 |
|
+ CWops Mini-CWT
Test |
0300Z-0400Z, Jan 21 |
WEDNESDAY EDITION: Joe-
K1JEK tells me the
Near-Fest in May has been
cancelled....Imagine if Trump
got a ham license?...Everything
you need to know about
radials...Qsl cards-
art and history....From what
I see in the news, there are a
lot of
dumb-asses in Florida...Sharp
shooting warden solves the
problem of two bucks locked
up...
Dayton Hamvention 2021
cancelled
The Hamvention organizers
have decided to cancel this
year's show which had been
planned for May 21-23 in
Xenia, Ohio
A notice
on their website says:
Unfortunately,
several setbacks in the
recovery from the COVID-19
pandemic make necessary the
difficult decision to cancel
Hamvention 2021. Hundreds of
volunteers have been working
to do everything necessary
to bring this Hamvention to
the many amateur radio
enthusiasts and vendors who
support the Dayton
Hamvention.
Vaccine
distribution both in the
United States and around the
world is lagging behind what
was planned. In addition,
the emergence of a more
communicable form of the
COVID-19 virus increases the
potential for further public
health problems in the next
few months. We make this
difficult decision for the
safety of our guests and
vendors.
Dayton
Hamvention
https://hamvention.org/
IARU preparing for
WRC-23
The ARRL report
preparations continue on the
part of the International
Amateur Radio Union (IARU)
to represent the interests
of the amateur and
amateur-satellite services
at World Radiocommunication
Conference 2023 (WRC-23)
The International
Telecommunication Union
(ITU) sponsors WRCs,
typically every 4 years, to
consider revisions to the
international Radio
Regulations that define
frequency allocations for
various radio services.
“As an incumbent radio
service with allocations at
intervals throughout the
radio spectrum, the amateur
service faces challenges at
every WRC,” IARU Secretary
David Sumner, K1ZZ, said.
“Successfully defending our
existing access to the
spectrum is a significant
accomplishment at any WRC,
but sometimes it is possible
also to improve our existing
allocations. WRC-19 resulted
in major improvements in 50
MHz allocations in Region 1.
Without any doubt, this
could not have happened
without the concerted
efforts of dozens of IARU
volunteers over the course
of several years.”
Read the full ARRL story at
http://www.arrl.org/news/international-amateur-radio-union-preparing-for-wrc-23
Ham Talk Live!
Episode 242 -- Ham Shack
Overhaul:
Thursday (1/14) at 9
pm EST, Joe
Eisneberg, K0NEB
returns to the show,
but not to talk
about kits! Joe has
completely
overhauled his
shack, and it's
featured in this
month's CQ Magazine.
We'll talk about
what Joe did to
upgrade his shack,
and how the
performance has
noticeably
increased. He will
take your questions
live, and give some
tips for making your
shack more
efficient.
Thursday (1/14)
at 9 pm EST, Joe
Eisneberg, K0NEB
returns to the
show, but not to
talk about
kits! Joe has
completely
overhauled his
shack, and it's
featured in this
month's CQ
Magazine. We'll
talk about what
Joe did to
upgrade his
shack, and how
the performance
has noticeably
increased. He
will take your
questions live,
and give some
tips for making
your shack more
efficient.
Tune into Ham
Talk Live!
Thursday night
at 9 pm EST
(Friday 0200Z)
by going to
hamtalklive.com.
When the audio
player indicates
LIVE, just hit
the play
button!
If you miss the
show live, you
can listen on
demand anytime
also at
hamtalklive.com;
or a podcast
version is on
nearly all
podcast sites a
few minutes
after the live
show is over.
Some sites
include Apple
Podcasts,
Stitcher, Google
Play,
SoundCloud, and
iHeart Podcasts;
and it's also
available on
YouTube. A
replay is also
broadcast on
WTWW 5085 AM on
Saturday nights
at approximately
3:30 pm Eastern.
Be sure to CALL
in with your
questions and
comments by
calling
859-982-7373
live during the
call-in segment
of the show.
You can also
tweet your
questions before
or during the
show to
@HamTalkLive.
TUESDAY EDITION:
Q shithead gets sick if he
doesn't have organic food on the
plate, good luck in prison.
Bubba will give you some organic
food....This guy needs a good
slap in the face.....DX
Commander vertical
review....FCC Cracking Down on
Property Owners From Which
Pirate Broadcasters Operate,
wonder when they will crack down
on ham radio hotspots? How's
that new OO program working?
Dayton Hamvention Cancels
2021 Show
Dayton Hamvention®
will not take place for the
second year.
“Unfortunately, several
setbacks in the recovery
from the COVID-19 pandemic
make necessary the difficult
decision to cancel
Hamvention 2021,” a January
11 announcement from the
Hamvention Executive
Committee said.
Sponsored by the Dayton
Amateur Radio Association (DARA),
Hamvention was set to take
place May 21 – 23 in Xenia,
Ohio.
“Hundreds of volunteers
have been working to do
everything necessary to
bring this Hamvention to the
many amateur radio
enthusiasts and vendors who
support the Dayton
Hamvention. Vaccine
distribution both in the
United States and around the
world is lagging behind what
was planned. In addition,
the emergence of a more
communicable form of the
COVID-19 virus increases the
potential for further public
health problems in the next
few months. We make this
difficult decision for the
safety of our guests and
vendors. Those who had their
tickets deferred last year
will be deferred again.”
The committee said the
show would return in 2022
and hinted at a QSO party
for Hamvention weekend. In
November, Hamvention had
announced that “The
Gathering” would be the
theme for the 2021 show.
Hamvention is the largest
annual amateur radio
gathering in the US and was
host of the ARRL National
Convention in 2019. The
ARRL
Hamfest and
Convention Calendar
includes a searchable
database that includes
other canceled
in-person events.
AMSAT/Vanderbilt
RadFXSat-2/Fox 1E Set to Launch
Virgin Orbit’s
LauncherOne is a go for
launch on Wednesday, January
13, at 1500 UTC, carrying
the AMSAT/Vanderbilt
RadFXSat-2/Fox-1E CubeSat
into space. The LauncherOne
vehicle will carry 10 other
satellites.
RadFXSat-2/Fox-1E carries an
inverting linear
transponder, with uplink at
145.860 MHz – 145.890 MHz,
and downlink at 435.760 MHz
– 435.790 MHz. Telemetry
will downlink on 435.750
MHz.
More information
is on the Space Launch Now
website. — Thanks to
AMSAT News Service/AMSAT-UK
Brazil: Home constructed
ham radio equipment
On December 29, 2020,
Brazil's national amateur
radio society LABRE
participated in a video
conference with the
communications regulator
ANATEL
A translation
of the LABRE post reads:
On the agenda, the
Agency's treatment of
homemade equipment, those
built by the radio amateur
himself, which currently
requires approval /
certification.
In
April 2020, LABRE
communicated to Anatel,
through Official Letter No.
17, all the requirements to
Radio Amateurs related to
certification that it did
not agree with, explaining
them. Since then, these
points have been discussed,
with Anatel remaining for
passing on a formal response
to this letter, item by
item.
At the
meetings, ANATEL raised,
among other issues, its
understanding that artisans
should be certified under
the LGT, the General
Telecommunications Law . In
view of this position, LABRE
has insisted on the need for
the exemption of artisans
based on more historical
arguments and statements
about decisions already
taken by Anatel in favor of
the exemption, including
based on Resolution 697/2018
, which is clearly stated in
Paragraph only of its
Article 13 that we do have
the claimed exemption.
All this reasoning was
exposed in Official Letter
No. 44 of LABRE that
complemented the previous
one and was discussed at the
meeting with the
Superintendent of Granting
and Provision of Resources
and other gifts, held on
December 29th. At the end of
the meeting, through the
negotiations agreed upon,
another letter was filed ,
No. 46 , in which LABRE
again complements the
arguments of the previous
letters with the opinion
given by the Specialized
Attorney's Office and other
citations.
LABRE
awaits ANATEL's response, in
the expectation that the
Agency will accept our
arguments and be able to
exempt all radio amateurs
who build their own
equipment from having to
carry out this legal
procedure, that is,
approval, as we understand
that there is no reason for
such a requirement.
Source LABRE
https://tinyurl.com/BrazilLABRE
Mid Ulster ARC Tuesday Night
Lecture Series
Hello folks!
Happy new year! So, what do
you do on a Tuesday evening?
Well, The Mid Ulster ARC
Tuesday Night Lecture Series
is back!!
Kicking off again this
Tuesday evening at 7pm we are
being treated again by Simon
GW0NVN on the topic of getting
the best out of your station on
VHF and UHF. A great topic for
beginners in the hobby and some
good reminders for those old
hands. As always everyone is
welcome and spread the link
amongst fellow club members.
Will you consider joining us on
the 2nd and 4thTuesday of every
month as we continue this
wonderful lockdown series.
Tuesday Night Lecture Series
7pm 2nd and 4thTuesday of every
month
Dave Parkinson is inviting
you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83268623068
Meeting ID: 832 6862 3068
Irish contest news
There was a good turnout
of Irish and overseas
stations for the New Year's
Day IRTS 80 metres Counties
Contest.
Conditions were good, so
the band was busy for the
full hour of the contest.
More than 40 logs have
been received to date. To
improve cross-checking, the
contest manager is hoping to
receive more logs before the
deadline, which is Friday
next, 15th January.
Logs, even if they have
only a few QSOs, should be
sent to
irts.contests/at/gmail/dot/com
The UKEICC
evening 80 metres contest
took place on Wednesday last
and there was strong
participation from EI
stations, with Enda
Broderick EI2II taking
second place overall.
UKEICC runs SSB contests
on the first Wednesday of
the month, and CW on the
last Wednesday of the month,
while its annual CW DX
24-hour contest commences on
Saturday 23rd January at
1200z.
UKEICC's DX contests are
the only DX contests where
EI and GI counties are
multipliers
New Amateur VLF
Transatlantic Record Set
Very low frequency (VLF)
enthusiast Joe Craig, VO1NA,
reports that Stefan
Schaefer, DK7FC, copied his
50-character message
transmitted from
Newfoundland on 8.271 kHz,
with a radiated power of 10
mW.
“This is a new record for
amateur transatlantic VLF,”
Craig told ARRL. “The mode
used was
EbNaut by
Paul Nicholson. EbNaut
is a synchronous coherent
BPSK mode for use at VLF and
low LF. Craig’s tower
supports a VLF RL (rotated
L) 10-meter (33 feet)
average height and 100
meters (328 feet) long. VLF
is the ITU designation for
radio spectrum in the range
of 3 – 30 kHz, corresponding
to wavelengths from 100 to
10 kilometers, respectively.
“Since VLF waves can
penetrate at least 40 meters
(131 feet) into saltwater,
they are used for military
communication with
submarines,” Craig noted.
MONDAY EDITION: AT&T Is
Restoring Its
Bullshit Broadband Caps
Because Apparently The COVID
Crisis Is Over....Remember
Buffalo Bill....Here is the
government at work pissing
away our tax money....I
watched a Celtics practice clip
and saw a few players shooting
with ear buds playing music,
that wouldn't fly with old Red
Auerbach....FM
signal heard from one of
Jupiter's moons...SpaceX is on
course to rocket
tens of thousands of satellites
into Earth's orbit, part of Elon
Musk's plan to blanket the
planet in high-speed internet.
For the first time, data shows
that the company may be able to
accomplish this feat without
marring everyone's view of the
night sky....One Twitter wag
joked about lights flickering on
and off at the White House being
Donald Trump signaling to his
followers in
Morse code after Twitter and
Facebook squelched the president
for inciting rebellion.
Neil Williams -
K1YPM-now a silent key (SK),
Greenland, NH. A gentleman and
will be sorely missed at HRO
lunches. Neil was 91 and died
from Covid-19...RIP
VIDEO: QSL Cards Art &
History for Ham Radio and
Beyond
K8QS and WA9TDD show how
amateur radio operators as
well as SWL and AM broadcast
radio DXers have used QSL
cards to form personal
identities, share memories,
earn awards, and create art.
Video includes interesting
QSL examples and pithy
observations from co-hosts
of "Ham Radio Perspectives,"
the only YouTube channel
dedicated to exploring the
history, culture, and
technology of ham radio.
https://youtu.be/X1SjLIEDIHw
Ham radio rig used to
control MQ-9 Reaper drone
General Atomics
Aeronautical Systems, Inc.
(GA-ASI) used an amateur
radio transceiver to
demonstrate Beyond Line of
Sight (BLOS) HF Command &
Control (C2) of an MQ-9
Reaper Uncrewed Aircraft
System (UAS)
GA-ASI
says:
The HF C2
capability does not require
a Satellite Communications
(SATCOM) link and is capable
of providing BLOS
connectivity up to 8,000
miles, depending on transmit
power and link geometry.
“We demonstrated a BLOS
assured Command & Control
capability that can be used
in contested or denied
environments,” said GA-ASI
President David R.
Alexander. “GA-ASI is
committed to developing a
flexible UAS architecture
with assured C2 that is
relevant in a broad set of
mission scenarios.”
For the demo, GA-ASI
integrated the U.S.
Government’s Collaborative
Operations in Denied
Environment (CODE) autonomy
software into the Open
Operational Flight Profile
(OFP) of an MQ-9A Block 5
Remotely Piloted Aircraft
(RPA) and flew the MQ-9
using improved diagonal
tails with conformal HF
antennas incorporated into
the leading edges.
GA-ASI’s MQ-9 housed a
FlexRadio Systems’
FLEX-6600 HF
software-defined radio
and associated hardware to
translate and execute an
autonomous mission plan.
GA-ASI created a specialized
HF software adapter to
manage the unique latency
and throughput constraints
of the HF waveform to
demonstrate BLOS command and
control of the RPA.
The demonstration was flown
out of Laguna Army Air
Field/Yuma Proving Grounds
on Dec. 16, 2020. The MQ-9
was commanded from Austin,
Texas approximately 1,000
miles away over an HF C2
link. This capability
enables an operator to task
the MQ-9 without needing
SATCOM, providing a means to
operate in SATCOM-denied,
contested environments.
Source GA-ASI
https://www.ga-asi.com/ga-asi-demonstrates-blos-command-control-over-hf-using-mq-9
Today Alex went to the DMV to
renew his license. When he was
told to go have his picture
taken he noticed that there were
some men having their picture
taken, these men were wearing
turbins on there heads. Alex was
asked to take his hat off to
have his picture taken. He said
"no", and "no" again when asked
the second time. When he was
asked why he would not remove
his hat he said, "those men
didn't remove their head wear, I
shouldn't either". It was
explained that this was their
attire and their religion. Alex
told the DMV person that what he
had on was his attire and when
he entered the Marines he
declared an oath to the USA, and
one nation under God, so that
his oath was under God so just
as good as his religion. Well,
the DMV people didn't know what
to do, they spoke to supervisors
and called Sacramento. Alex was
told, after an hour, that he
could wear his hat for the
picture and if there were any
problems they would let him know
and he could appeal their
decision. He told them if there
was a problem he WILL appeal it.
Alex feels no one has more right
to display their head gear then
a Veteran or active service
person. When he left several
employees at the DMV clapped
quietly for him. He has spoken
to few other Veterans and they
plan to do the same.
A very long time ago
I was in Chicago meeting
with the man who wrote
the security system for
IBM’s AS400. I asked him
“but why a Q” as we
discussed the
QSECOFR account.
He said it was a rare
letter, denoting
something special, and I
had no reason to doubt
him. This man claimed to
have created the system
for IBM and chose a Q
for the simple reasons
he said.
It’s true Q is rare.
There’s only one Q tile
in Scrabble and it has
10 points assigned
(highest possible).
Story continues
WEEKEND EDITION: Have a
great weekend......We have
become a society of scared
sheep.....Beware of stuff
you buy at the
thrift store...
Yaesu
FT-DX10 And Icom IC-7300, Side
By Side Comparisons-
video
“This is an unofficial
side by side comparison of
the 2 receivers while
incorporating the noise
reduction and filtering
features of the two. I am
greatly surprised at the
level of DNR and clarity of
the Yaesu receiver. Noisy
signals can be almost
completely cleaned up with
enough filtering turned on..
These two radios are not a
fair comparison, the prices
are totally different. The
7300 is a fantastic radio, I
own it. There is no negative
aspects pointed at either
radio in this video. We just
assumed that the amount of
7300 users in the world
would want to see how the
7300 compares to this brand
new Hybrid SDR by Yaesu.”
FCC Invites Comments on
Expanding the Number of
Volunteer Examiner Coordinators
In a January 5
Public Notice,
the FCC requested comments
on whether the current 14
Volunteer Examiner
Coordinators (VECs)
are sufficient to facilitate
the efforts of their
accredited Volunteer
Examiners (VEs) in
administering amateur radio
examinations, or
whether up to five
additional VECs should be
authorized. The ARRL
VEC is the largest of the 14
VECs in the US. Comments are
due by February 5, and reply
comments are due by February
19. After Congress
authorized it to do so, the
FCC adopted rules in 1983 to
allow volunteers to prepare
and administer amateur radio
examinations, and it
established the system of
VECs and VEs.
“VECs introduced
consistency into the
volunteer examiner program
by centralizing
accreditation of volunteer
examiners, coordinating the
dates and times for
scheduling examinations, and
managing the various
administrative tasks arising
from examinations,” the FCC
said. Authorized VECs may
operate in any of the 13 VEC
regions but must service at
least one region. The FCC
pointed out that some VECs
now offer remote
examinations.
“The Commission has long
maintained 14 VECs and now
seeks to consider whether
they continue to serve the
evolving needs of the
amateur community, or
whether there are unmet
needs that warrant
considering expanding the
number of VECs.”
The FCC Public Notice
provided questions for
framing comments:
- Are the existing 14
VECs sufficient to
coordinate the efforts
of Volunteer Examiners
in preparing and
administering
examinations for amateur
radio operator licenses,
or are additional VECs
needed?
- What needs are
currently being met, and
which needs, if any, are
not?
- If the FCC were to
allow additional VECs,
how many more would be
needed to satisfy
existing Amateur Radio
Service license
examination needs? (The
FCC indicated that it
will likely cap the
number of additional
VECs at five.)
- Given that VECs use
a collaborative process
to create examination
question pools and
volunteer examination
administration
protocols, would
additional VECs enhance
or hinder this process?
- How would increasing
the number of VECs
address the unmet needs,
if any, of the amateur
radio community, and
what obstacles or
complications could
result from increasing
the number of VECs?
Interested parties may
file short comments on WT
Docket No. 21-2 via the
FCC’s
Electronic Comment
Filing Service (Express).
Visit the FCC’s “How
to Comment on FCC
Proceedings”
page for information on
filing extended comments.
And
this is why people look at
hams strangely...
Foundations of Amateur Radio
The other radios in the
world ...
When you join the community
of radio amateurs you'll find a
passionate group of people who
to greater and lesser degree
spend their time and energy
playing with radios in whatever
shape that takes. For some it
involves building equipment, for
others it means going on a hike
and activating a park. Across
all walks of life you'll find
people who are licensed radio
amateurs, each with their own
take on what this hobby means.
Within that community it's
easy to imagine that you're the
centre of the world of radio.
You know stuff, you do stuff,
you invent stuff. As a community
we're a place where people dream
up weird and wonderful ideas and
set about making them happen.
Radio amateurs have a long
association with emergency
services. When I joined the
hobby over a decade ago one of
the sales pitches made to me was
that we're ready to be part of
emergency communications. In
some jurisdictions that's baked
into the license.
There was a time when a radio
amateur was expected to be ready
to jump into a communications
gap and render assistance with
their station. There are amateur
based groups groups like WICEN,
the Wireless Institute Civil
Emergency Network in Australia,
ARES, the Amateur Radio
Emergency Service in the United
States, RAYNET, the Radio
Amateurs' Emergency Network in
the United Kingdom, AREDN, the
Amateur Radio Emergency Data
Network in Germany, DARES, the
Dutch Amateur Radio Emergency
Service, AREC or Amateur Radio
Emergency Communications in New
Zealand and EmComms in Trinidad
and Tobago to name a few.
Each of those manages their
participation in different ways.
For example, ARES offers
training and certification where
AREDN offers software and a
how-to guide, in Trinidad and
Tobago the Office of Disaster
Preparedness Management is
actively involved in amateur
radio and maintains an active
amateur radio station and five
repeaters.
In Australia there's a
requirement to record and notify
authorities if you become aware
of a distress signal as a part
of your license. In fact in
Australia you must immediately
cease all transmissions. You
must continue to listen on
frequency. You must record full
details of the distress message,
in writing and if possible
recorded by tape recorder.
While that scenario can and
has happened, it's not common.
An amateur station being used to
provide an emergency link in the
case of catastrophic failure has
also happened, but in Australia
I'm not sure if that was in my
lifetime or not.
My point is that the idea
that we're going to put up a
critical radio link and be the
heart of communications in an
emergency is, in Australia at
least, not particularly likely.
That's not to say that you
should ignore that potential, or
that it's universally true, but
it's to point out that there are
other things that you can do
with your license that might
happen more readily and help
your community more.
Outside our amateur
community, there's plenty of
radio in use as well. The
obvious ones are volunteer bush
fire brigades, state emergency
services and the like. Less
obvious might be the local
marine rescue group, surf life
saving or the local council.
Each of those use radios as part
of their service delivery and a
radio amateur can contribute to
that without needing to bring
their station along. In fact, if
you don't have an amateur
license, but want to play radio,
that's an excellent place to do
it as a volunteer. I should
mention that radio procedures
are also in use in all manner of
other professions, mining,
policing, the military and
aviation to name a couple, not
to forget occupations like
tour-guides, ferry operators and
pretty much any place where
telephones, fixed or mobile are
not readily deployed.
Within those areas there are
procedures and jargon that
you'll need to learn and perhaps
even need to be certified for,
but you as a radio amateur have
several skills that you can
bring to the table because you
already have a license.
For example, I learnt my
phonetic alphabet many years
before I ever heard of amateur
radio. It was a requirement for
my aviation radio ticket which
in turn was required before I
flew solo. When it came to
making my first ever
transmission on amateur radio,
doing the phonetic thing was
second nature, much to the
surprise of my fellow trainees
at the time. A thank you is due
to both Neil VK6BDO, now Silent
Key, and Doug VK6DB for making
that training happen.
You can apply the skills you
bring with you when you join an
organisation outside amateur
radio who deals with wireless
communication in whatever form
that takes. For example, just
the idea that you know how to
pick up a microphone and push
the Push To Talk button and
speak and let the button go
after you're done, a pretty
trivial activity in amateur
radio, will be something that
you have that most of the
untrained general public have no
idea about.
Amateur radio is a massive
hobby. Playing with radio, or
doing something serious with it
comes in all shapes and sizes.
Your amateur experience can
help, but be prepared to learn
different procedures and
methods. The amateur way isn't
the only way and it's not the
only place where radio is used
and sometimes it's good to have
a look outside your comfort zone
and see what the neighbours are
up to.
I'm Onno VK6FLAB
Amateur Radio
Newsline Report 2254 for Friday
January 8th 2021
FCC EYES ADDING VOLUNTEER
EXAMINER COORDINATORS
STEPHEN: Our top story this week
finds the Federal Communications
Commission asking: Is 14 enough?
That's the current number of
Volunteer Examiner Coordinator
organizations who oversee VEs,
or volunteer examiners, hams who
administer the US license exams.
In a notice posted on January
5th on the FCC website, the
Wireless Telecommunications
Bureau announced it would like
public input on whether it
should authorize additional
coordinators - as many as five -
to support the volunteer
examiners' ongoing work. Since
1983, VE coordinators have
overseen the accreditation of
the volunteer examiners,
managing administrative tasks
connected to the exams they
give, and coordinating when the
tests are given.
The
scene changed last year when new
rules took effect in July
permitting VE Coordinators to
conduct remote exam sessions.
They did so most recently this
past December in Antarctica.
The FCC notice said:
[quote]: "The Commission has
long maintained 14 VECs and now
seeks to consider whether they
continue to serve the evolving
needs of the amateur community
or whether there are unmet needs
that warrant considering
expanding the number of VECs."
[endquote]
Comments are
due by the 4th of February.
Details about filing
electronically or on paper are
available on the FCC website.
(FCC.GOV)
**
BREXIT DOESN'T CUT ALL UK TIES
TO EU SATELLITES
STEPHEN/ANCHOR: A late-December
agreement has preserved the UK's
involvement in some European
satellite programs, post-Brexit.
Jeremy Boot G4NJH picks up the
story from here.
JEREMY:
An agreement between the UK and
the EU has clarified the
post-Brexit relationship between
the two with regard to
scientific research, permitting
the UK's continued participation
in Copernicus, the EU's Earth
monitoring programme. The deal
also ensures that the UK and a
number of private satellite
operators based there will also
retain access to the Space
Surveillance and Tracking
Programme established by the EU
for space situational awareness.
The deal, however, does
not provide the UK with access
to encrypted or secure services
on Galileo, Europe's Global
Navigation Satellite System
(GNSS). Galileo was established
to assist emergency
response-services on Europe's
roads making railways and roads
safer. Although smartphone users
may not notice any difference,
the UK itself will no longer
have access to the satellite
services for defence or national
infrastructure.
For
Amateur Radio Newsline I'm
Jeremy Boot G4NJH.
(GOV.UK, AMSAT,
SCIENCEBUSINESS.NET)
**
WOODEN SATELLITES SEEN AS
FIX TO 'SPACE JUNK'
STEPHEN/ANCHOR: How do you build
a satellite that is kinder to
the environment? A partnership
in Japan is exploring the answer
- and Graham Kemp VK4BB has
those details.
GRAHAM:
Solutions to the growing problem
of "space junk" don't grow on
trees - or do they? Perhaps yes:
In Japan, a forestry company has
partnered with Kyoto University
to work on building a robust and
resilient satellite out of wood
- something that would be
Earth-friendly as well as
space-friendly. Their goal is to
have one such satellite ready
for launch by 2023. The
experimental work includes
exposing different varieties of
wood to extreme temperature
changes and sunlight, to see how
a wooden satellite might behave
in space. An added plus: Upon
re-entry, wooden satellites
could return to Earth without
releasing harmful substances or
debris on the way down.
Kyoto University professor Takao
Doi, a Japanese astronaut, told
the BBC: [quote] "We are very
concerned with the fact that all
the satellites which re-enter
the Earth's atmosphere burn and
create tiny alumina particles
which will float in the upper
atmosphere for many years."
[endquote]
He said the
next step is to develop the
engineering model of the
satellite and after that, a
flight model.
The BBC
reports that nearly 6,000
satellites are now orbiting the
Earth, according to figures from
the World Economic Forum. Some
60 percent of them are
considered "space junk," meaning
they are no longer in use.
For Amateur Radio Newsline
I'm Graham Kemp VK4BB.
(BBC)
**
SEA-PAC
ANNUAL CONVENTION CANCELLED
STEPHEN/ANCHOR: COVID-19
precautions have led to the
cancellation of yet another
major amateur radio gathering.
SEA-PAC, the 2021 ARRL
Northwestern Division
Convention, has been called off
as an in-person event in Oregon
where it was scheduled to be
held in June. Chairman John
Bucsek KE7WNB said alternative
activities online and on the air
were being explored.
(SEA-PAC)
**
LAWMAKERS
SEEK PROBE INTO ARECIBO COLLAPSE
STEPHEN/ANCHOR: In the US,
Congress is taking a second look
at the collapse of the Arecibo
Observatory in Puerto Rico. Paul
Braun WD9GCO tells us more.
PAUL: Lawmakers in
Washington, D.C., plan an
investigation into the December
collapse at the Arecibo
Observatory, just weeks after
Puerto Rico's outgoing governor
committed $8 million in
resources to rebuild its
historic radiotelescope.
In the December 1st collapse,
the dish was gashed beyond
repair following the crash of a
900-ton instrument platform. The
telescope, a valued cornerstone
in modern astronomy, was being
decommissioned by the US
National Science Foundation
following other damage that
occurred weeks earlier. At the
time of the final collapse, it
had been earmarked for
dismantling.
Congress has
requested a report by the end of
February.
For Amateur
Radio Newsline I'm Paul Braun
WD9GCO
(SPACE.COM)
**
IOWA STUDENTS' BALLOON
CIRCLES EARTH A THIRD TIME
STEPHEN/ANCHOR: The world
has kept turning into the new
year and so too has one Iowa
amateur radio club's balloon
project. Jack Parker W8ISH has
that story.
JACK: Three
circumnavigations after its
launch, the Pella Amateur Radio
Club's APRS balloon was still
the pride of the Jefferson
Intermediate School fifth
graders who'd helped launch it
back in November. It ended the
year 2020 as a success in the
sky. Transmitting on 144.39 MHz
with the callsign WB0URW-8, the
helium-filled balloon had
completed three trips around the
world since its November 5th
launch and seemed unstoppable.
It was still making its rounds
as 2021 dawned, according to
radio club member Jim Emmert
WB0URW. Jim told KNIA-KRLS radio
that in its third trip around
Planet Earth, the balloon passed
over Canada, Greenland,
Portugal, Spain, Albania and
North Macedonia - among many
other places. Powered by solar
panels, the balloon can be
tracked by following the link
that appears in this week's
script on our website at
arnewsline.org.
STEPHEN/ANCHOR: According to a
January 6th report by the radio
station, the balloon has since
completed its fourth trip - a
journey that takes about two
weeks. The students have reason
to be proud.
**
PROJECT EYES DIRECT WAY TO
GATHER SOLAR POWER
STEPHEN/ANCHOR: Imagine
collecting the solar power you
need from a spot much, much
closer to the sun. Jim Damron
N8TMW tells us about a project
that's doing more than just
imagining.
JIM: The US
Air Force Research Laboratory is
hanging its hopes on something
called Helios. It's a key
component named after the Greek
sun god and is part of an
experiment known as Arachne
(Uh-RACK-Knee) expected to be
launched into space in 2024. The
formal name of the project is
the Space Solar Power
Incremental Demonstrations and
Research solar beaming project.
What's that? The Air Force
lab describes it as a project
that will explore a way to
harvest solar energy directly
from space, where sunlight is
more potent outside the Earth's
atmosphere and where solar
panels have more hours of
exposure. Through use of
something called "sandwich
tiles" and other systems, the
experiment will convert the
collected energy to radio waves
for beaming back to Earth as
usable power.
Helios,
which is being supplied by
Northrup Grumman, will house the
platform on which these solar
beaming experiments occur.
Northrup Grumman's role has left
the Air Force lab free to
concentrate on acquiring a
spacecraft where it might all
begin to happen.
For
Amateur Radio Newsline I'm Jim
Damron N8TMW.
(CLEAN
TECHNICA, POPULAR MECHANICS, US
AIR FORCE)
**
SILENT
KEY: JAMES GOLDEN KD0AES
STEPHEN/ANCHOR: A popular net
control operator with the
Handiham Program for disabled
amateurs has become a Silent
Key. Christian Cudnik K0STH
tells us about him.
CHRISTIAN: James Golden, KD0AES,
a Life Member of the Handiham
Program, was perhaps best known
as net control for the Tuesday
Handiham Radio Club net, a busy
gathering place for disabled
amateurs like him. According to
his obituary in the Nevada Daily
Mail, the Nevada, Missouri radio
operator, who had cerebral
palsy, brought such enthusiasm
to his on-air responsibilities
that at one point he served as
net control for three nets a
week. Grateful for his skill in
handling busy traffic in an
always-polite manner, a number
of amateurs pooled their money
to purchase a Handiham Life
Membership for him.
James
continued with his activity
until two weeks before his death
on December 9th. James Golden,
who was 46, died of COVID-19.
For Amateur Radio Newsline,
I'm Christian Cudnik K0STH.
(HANDIHAM, NEVADA DAILY
MAIL)
**
SILENT
KEY: LOGGING SOFTWARE DEVELOPER
DAVE PRUETT K8CC
STEPHEN/ANCHOR: We also report
the death of NA Contest Logging
Software Developer Dave Pruett,
K8CC. Dave became a Silent Key
on the 29th of December. A
chairman of the Michigan QSO
Party and a log-checker for the
ARRL's 10-meter and 160-meter
contests, Dave's most widely
known contributions were perhaps
in the area of contest log
development. Early on, he was
the developer of a program for
RadioShack computers that
checked logs for duplicate
contacts. He also created the NA
contest logging software which
is capable of handling a number
of contests. He was also a
former editor of the National
Contest Journal.
Dave was
66.
(ARRL)
**
SILENT KEY: FORMER RAC PRESIDENT
FARRELL (HOPPY) HOPWOOD VE7RD
STEPHEN/ANCHOR: An
influential member of the
Canadian Amateur Radio Community
has become a Silent Key. John
Williams VK4JJW tells us about
his long career.
JOHN:
Farrell Hopwood VE7RD, who had
been president of RAC and a
member of the Canadian Amateur
Radio Hall of Fame, has become a
Silent Key. Known as Hoppy, he
died on December 8th. The son of
a telegrapher father and a
Teletype-operator mother, Hoppy
began his long career in
telecommunications in his native
British Columbia in 1948. In
1955, Hoppy became an amateur
radio operator with the call
sign VE7AHB. Those who attended
Expo 86 in Vancouver saw the
amateur radio station and
exhibit there that was created
by Hoppy and his team. An avid
DXer, he was also involved in
VHF/UHF linking and packet.
Hoppy became an early member
of the Canadian Radio Relay
League and the Canadian Amateur
Radio Federation, rising through
its ranks into leadership. He
also became involved in key
discussions to merge the two
organisations into the RAC.
Hoppy later became president of
the RAC, retiring from the post
in 1998 after serving three
terms.
He was inducted
into the Canadian Amateur Radio
Hall of Fame in 2015.
Hoppy was 91.
For Amateur
Radio Newsline I'm John Williams
VK4JJW.
(RAC)
**
NOVA SCOTIA CONTEST WEATHERS THE
STORM
STEPHEN/ANCHOR: A
recent winter contest hosted by
one Canadian amateur radio club
turned out to be a disaster --
and the members couldn't have
been happier. Kevin Trotman
N5PRE has those details.
KEVIN: The Halifax Amateur Radio
Club called their contest the
"2-Meter Get on the Air Winter
Event," and it was designed to
challenge the hams' ability to
stay connected in the face of an
emergency. For four hours on
January 2nd, it was a dry run
for disaster for John Bignell
VE1JMB, the club's
director-at-large, and 50 or so
other club members. It also
turned out to be a frozen run:
the contest went forward despite
a heavy snowfall that covered
much of Nova Scotia. John, who
is also an EHS Advance Care
Paramedic, said the contest
underscored the need for hams to
have a reliable communications
network when disaster strikes,
as it did in 2017 when Bell
Aliant suffered a connection
outage of landlines and
cellphones in Eastern Canada.
John told the Saltwire
Network website that the contest
was also about having fun but
it's important to remember too
that when the Red Cross, rescue
teams or ground-search personnel
need communications backup, hams
should be there and ready. That
makes everyone a winner in every
contest.
For Amateur
Radio Newsline I'm Kevin Trotman
N5PRE.
(JOHN BIGNELL
VE1JMB)
**
WHEN THE DX
FINDS THE DXer IN FINLAND
STEPHEN/ANCHOR: There are
many of us who like to go off in
search of some good DX - but
what happens when the DX
unexpectedly finds YOU? Ed
Durrant DD5LP tells us.
ED: As she gave her "good
morning" greetings to local
listeners from her radio studio
in Canada's Yukon territory, CBC
program host Elyn (ELLEN) Jones
recently gained a new fan. It
was Jorma (YORMA) Mäntylä
(MON-too-lah), who was listening
on 560 kHz, the station's AM
frequency, from his home 7,000
km away in Finland. He was
somewhat surprised to hear the
programme, "Yukon Morning," as
it arrived last fall via the
long wire antenna he'd directed
toward North America. Jorma is
no stranger to DX though. He's
been at it since getting his
amateur radio licence in 1967,
with some of his proudest DX
contacts being New Zealand,
Israel and Japan.
Still,
he believed some kind of special
QSL card was in order so he
emailed the CBC and attached an
mp3 file of what he'd heard. It
was a multimedia e-qsl card of
sorts. The file revealed a
signal of varying quality but it
was still a valid contact.
"Yukon Morning" is one of many
CBC radio shows that are
available via streaming and on
demand but I'm sure Jorma would
tell you RF is best!
For
Amateur Radio Newsline I'm Ed
Durrant DD5LP.
(SOUTHGATE,
CBC)
**
WORLD OF DX
In the world of DX, Hams are
honoring the work of Lions Clubs
International with special event
tation GB4BLC in England.
Members of the Bedworth Lions
Club and operators from the
Coventry Amateur Radio Society
will be operating through
January 28th on most of the HF
bands. The operation will
include the digital modes. There
will be no QSL cards.
Another special event station is
operating from Poland. Members
of the SEDINA Contest Club will
activate the special event
station SQ0MORSE through April
30th, marking the 230th
anniversary of
the birth of
Samuel F.B. Morse. Operations
will be on various HF bands.
Send QSLs to SP1EG, direct or by
the Bureau.
(OHIO PENN
DX, QRZ)
**
KICKER:
FOR HUNTING DECOY MARKETER, THE
COST OF RFI IS DEAR
STEPHEN/ANCHOR: Our final story
is about an FCC action against a
company it has charged with
radio interference. The
government agency, it seems, is
making some noises involving -
of all things - animal noises.
Kent Peterson KC0DGY has more.
KENT: Can the grunt or snort
or a bleat of a deer be
considered QRM? Probably not,
but instructions being
transmitted wirelessly,
directing a hunting decoy to
utter those noises is quite
another matter. The FCC and a US
company called Primos have
entered into a consent decree
over its product, the Waggin'
Whitetail Electronic Deer Tail
Decoy, for what the FCC has
called noncompliance with Part
15 of its rules. The FCC
believes the decoy's remote,
which users report has a
transmission range of between 40
and 60 yards, exceeds authorized
field strength emissions limits
and could interfere with nearby
electronics. According to the
FCC, the company acknowledged
that it had marketed six such
models that exceed those limits.
Primos has agreed to embark
on a plan for compliance and has
begun a voluntary recall.
The company will also pay a
civil penalty that could be
considered somewhat.....dear:
$55,000.
Primos noted
that it had received no
complaints of interference
occurring with any other
devices. As for interference
complaints from any of the local
wildlife -- no bucks or does
were available to grunt, snort,
bleat or otherwise comment for
this report.
For Amateur
Radio Newsline I'm Kent Peterson
KC0DGY.
(FCC, PRIMOS)
FRIDAY EDITION: Looks
like no storms for the next week
which will take us half way thru
January,....My friend gave me a
HO trainset for my grandson, I
forgot how much fun trains
were.....The
Amateur's Code was written
in 1928 and very much applies
today. Let's take a look at the
Code and how it can improve
civility in our hobby and on the
air.....Solar
Update....Fat,
drunk and chasing utilities
workers with a skid-steer is no
way to go through life, son........Before
you run out and
buy a Tesla....
History This
Week
Monday, 3 March, 2014
1223 BC The
oldest recorded eclipse occurred
on a date on a clay tablet from
the ancient city of Ugarit,
Syria
1611
Johannes Fabricius, a Dutch
astronomer, observed sunspots
for the first time.
1618 Johannes
Kepler formulated his Third Law
of Planetary Motion.
1661 The Royal
Society, London, England,
elected Sir Robert Moray as
their first president.
1876 Alexander
Graham Bell patented an
"Improvement in Telegraphy"
(No.174,465) the Telephone.
1899 SS "R
F Matthews" collided with the
lightship; which radioed the
lighthouse ashore to get
assistance. This was the first
time ever a distress call was
transmitted by radio from a ship
at sea! Sent 'HELP' etc...
1977 The
first Freon-cooled Cray-1
supercomputer, costing
$19,000,000, was shipped to Los
Alamos Laboratories
2021 AM Rally Set for First
Weekend in February
The 2021 running of the
AM Rally
will take place from 0000
UTC on Saturday, February 6
to 0700 UTC on Monday,
February 8. The annual AM
Rally operating event
encourages all operators to
explore amateur radio’s
original voice mode by
showcasing the various types
of amplitude modulation
equipment in use today,
ranging from early
vacuum-tube radios to the
latest SDR-based
transceivers.
“Participation in the AM
Rally has continued to grow
over the past 5 years, as
more operators explore the
mode,” said Clark Burgard,
N1BCG. “The AM Rally is a
great way to beat the winter
and COVID-19 blues.”
The AM Rally is open to
all radio amateurs capable
of operating on AM using any
type of radio equipment from
vintage to modern, vacuum
tube to solid state. The AM
Rally will use the 160-,
80-, 40-, 20-, 15-, 10-, and
6-meter bands.
“Those who have never
tried AM mode will find
plenty of help, if needed,”
Burgard assured. An AM Rally
2021
promotional video
is available.
Contact
Burgard for more
information.
British Railways ARS
special event
During 2021 the
British Railways ARS
will be celebrating 55 years
since the forming of the
society in 1966.
History of the Formation
of British Railways Amateur
Radio Society.
British Railways Amateur
Radio Society had their
inaugural meeting on the
29th October in 1966 at
British Railways Board
Headquarters after the work
of acting Secretary S.W.L
Gray.
One of the founder
members of BRARS who
attended that meeting was
S.W.L. John Chappell who is
now G4ZTQ.
In 1967 Ronald Hooper
G3SCW attended a meeting in
Sweden which led to the
formation of FIRAC the
“International Federation of
Railway Radio Amateurs”.
France Germany and
Switzerland initially formed
FIRAC and the organisation
has a membership exceeding
2000 worldwide. I have been
the President of BRARS since
1979 and our first Congress
meeting was held in1982 in
Lowestoft Suffolk.
Membership is open to
railway and non railway
members and more info is
available off the following
websites:-
www.firac.dewww.BRARS.inf
and
www.firac.org.uk. Geoff
Sims G4GNQ
The society will be
running the special event
call GB0LMR
which is also the suffix of
the club call.
The station will be
operated by BRARS member
Mark G1PIE
from Preston in Lancashire.
Bands of operation will
be 40M to 10M in SSB and
PSK-31 and PSK-63 and
VHF/UHF.
WAB SD52, Loc IO83QR.
Qsl cards are via the
RSGB bureau or direct with
sae to Mark G1PIE.
Further information is on
qrz.com and the society
website
www.brars.info
The Secret Listeners
A 1979 BBC programme about
civilian involvement in
radio-based intelligence during
WW1 and WW2 features amateur
radio
The YouTube
description says:
Illustrated with archival film
and photographs, as well as
interviews with those involved,
the documentary traces the
evolution of civilian
involvement in radio-based
intelligence during both world
wars.
It was the
tireless work of amateur radio
enthusiasts during World War I,
that initially convinced the
Admiralty to establish a radio
intercept station at Hunstanton.
Playing an integral role during
the war, technological advances
meant that radio operators could
pinpoint signals, thus
uncovering the movement of
German boats, leading to the
decisive Battle of Jutland in
1916.
Wireless espionage
was to play an even more
important role during World War
II, with the Secret Intelligence
Service setting up the Radio
Security Service, which was
staffed by Voluntary
Interceptors, a band of amateur
radio enthusiasts scattered
across Britain. The information
they collected was interpreted
by some of the brightest minds
in the country, who also had a
large hand in deceiving German
forces by feeding false
intelligence.
Watch
Wartime Radio The
Secret Listeners BBC (1979)
THURSDAY EDITION: What a
cluster fuck yesterday was not
to mention a huge
international embarrassment. I
thought 2021 would get
better....Which brings up an
interesting observation, your
local police department could
not handle a siege situation if
all hell broke out. Police
departments work where the
population is respectful of
laws...but in a crisis, no food
or water available for your
family..who knows what would
happen, I never thought the
White House could be stormed and
taken over...
Icom announces AH-705 HF/50
MHz Automatic Antenna Tuner
Icom has announced details of
its forthcoming portable
automatic antenna tuner for the
IC-705. The AH-705
is a palm-sized portable antenna
tuner that has been designed to
work between the 1.8-50MHz
bands. It can be powered either
by alkaline batteries or DC
13.8V supply.
AH-705 HF/50 MHz Automatic
Antenna Tuner Features
- Covers the 1.8 MHz to 50
MHz bands, using a long wire
element
- 2-way power sources
using alkaline batteries or
13.8 V DC (13.8 V DC should
be taken directly from an
external power supply, not
through the IC-705.)
- Latching relays used for
saving power consumption
- IP54 dust-protection and
water-resistant construction
for outdoor use
- Compact design that
neatly fits in the optional
LC-192 multi-function
backpack
Further information about the
AH-705 HF/50 MHz automatic
antenna tuner can be found by
clicking on this
downloadable PDF .
Launch of Spanish ham
radio satellites delayed
AMSAT-EA report Alba
Orbital, the UK space broker
that manages the launch of
EASAT-2 and
Hades
satellites, has informed
them of a delay in the
SpaceX launch which had been
planned for January 14
This delay has nothing
to do with our satellites,
or with Alba Orbital itself.
It is attributable to
Momentus, which acts as an
integrator with SpaceX.
The delay means the next
try would probably go to
March, coinciding with the
Starlink mission and being
located in an estimated
orbit between 450 and 550 km
with an inclination of 53
degrees.
As for the
satellites themselves, this
should not be a major
setback. We do not expect a
significant drain on the
batteries.
We keep
you all posted.
You have more information
about our satellites on our
website
https://www.amsat-ea.org/proyectos/
Home Construction Webinar
Jan 11
The RSGB’s Tonight @ 8
programme starts again on
Monday, January 11, with a
webinar on amateur radio
construction by Steve
Hartley G0FUW and
Pete Juliano N6QW
The presentation: Amateur
radio construction – what to do,
how to do it and why you should
try it
Despite what many
people think, building your own
radio equipment is still a very
popular aspect of amateur radio.
In fact there has never been a
better time to do this with
readily accessible building
blocks and high spec test
equipment available at bargain
basement prices, or, in the case
of software, absolutely free.
This presentation will cover
the reasons why people homebrew
radio equipment, share some
ideas on how to get started and
provide show some examples of
homebrew gear, using hardware
and software.
You will be
able to watch the webinar on
YouTube at
https://www.youtube.com/user/TheRSGB
Northernmost Reverse Beacon
Net Node in Europe Launched
Thanks to a grant from
the Yasme Foundation, the
northernmost Reverse Beacon
Net (RBN)
node in Europe went online
on December 22. It was made
possible by a Yasme
Foundation initiative to
provide additional Reverse
Beacon Network nodes in
underserved areas.
The latest node to become
active is hosted by Radio
Arcala, OH8X, very close to
the Lapland Region. At and
above the Arctic Circle
during hours of darkness,
polar path propagation
offers a footprint covering
all of North America for
many hours, even for
stations within the auroral
oval, and stations in the
far north have been able to
take advantage. The OH8X RBN
node would further help the
study of the polar path
mode, in which Radio Arcala
will be cooperating with the
northern scientific
community.
The RBN node receiver is
currently located at the
Radio Arcala station, OH8X,
at 65-11-03N and 26-14-53E,
but may later be moved even
farther north to be into the
heart of the auroral region
of the Arctic Circle. —
Thanks to Radio Arcala
Croatia Grants Access to New
40 MHz Band
Croatia has joined the
small number of countries to
allow operation on the new
40 MHz (8-meter) band.
Dragan Mojsilovic, 9A6W,
reports that national
telecom authorities there
have granted him a 1-year
experimental license to
operate from 40.660 MHz to
40.700 MHz, in the
Industrial, Scientific, and
Medical (ISM) band.
Croatia becomes the fifth
country to offer at least
some operating authority in
the band. Ireland, Slovenia,
and South Africa already
have 40 MHz allocations,
while Lithuania has
allocated spot frequencies
for experimental purposes.
The EI7GL blog offers
more information.
You can test positive for
COVID-19 after a vaccine-but
that doesn't mean the shots
don't work
It
takes time to develop antibodies
against the novel coronavirus.
Since the first
round COVID-19
vaccines became
available in the
United States in
December 2020,
several healthcare
workers have
reported testing
positive within a
few days of
receiving their
first shot. However,
it’s not unexpected
that some people are
being diagnosed with
COVID-19 shortly
after getting
vaccinated—and it
doesn’t mean that
the vaccines aren’t
working as
predicted.
According to one
report, an emergency
room nurse in San
Diego experienced
chills, muscle pain,
and fatigue six days
after
receiving his first
dose of the
vaccine developed by
Pfizer. He was
diagnosed with
COVID-19 on December
26, more than a week
after being
vaccinated. In
Austin, Texas,
physician Emily
Porter and her
husband began
feeling ill
within a few days of
receiving their
first doses of the
Pfizer vaccine. On
December 31st,
Porter
tweeted that
five of the six
members of their
household had tested
positive for the
novel coronavirus.
Both of the vaccines
that have been
granted emergency
use authorization
appear to be
extremely effective
in preventing
symptomatic
COVID-19. In
clinical trials, the
Pfizer vaccine had
an efficacy rate of
95 percent, while
Moderna’s vaccine
had an efficacy of
94.1 percent.
However, this
protection doesn’t
kick in the moment
people receive their
first shot.
“The vaccines don’t
work
instantaneously,”
says Timothy Brewer,
a professor of
epidemiology at the
UCLA Fielding School
of Public Health and
a member of the
David Geffen School
of Medicine at
UCLA’s Division of
Infectious Diseases.
“It takes a while to
actually generate an
immune response
after exposure to a
pathogen.” When
somebody has been
infected with the
actual virus, he
says, protective
antibodies (ones
that prevent you
from getting
infected again) can
typically be
detected after two
weeks.
During Pfizer’s
phase 3 clinical
trial, new COVID-19
cases decreased
among participants
who’d been
vaccinated starting
about 10 days
after they’d
received their first
dose compared with
participants who
received a placebo.
The vaccine offered
52 percent
protection after one
dose, and reached 95
percent
protectiveness about
a week after the
second dose.
So it’s possible
that somebody could
become infected
shortly after
vaccination, before
they
develop immunity,
Brewer says. How
likely it is that a
person who tests
positive will
develop symptomatic
COVID-19 will vary
depending on when
they were
vaccinated. “If they
test positive right
at the time they get
their vaccine,
they’re going to
have a higher risk
of getting disease
than if they test
positive, say, a
week after their
second dose,” Brewer
says.
Additionally, as
impressive as the
new vaccines are,
they will not be
protective in 100
percent of the
people who receive
them. It’s also
not yet known
whether vaccines
will prevent people
from unwittingly
spreading the virus.
WEDNESDAY EDITION: I
guess I am surprised and not
surprised to see the ARRL having
their hand out for the Virtual
Ham Expo returning in March.
What costs? They have sponsors,
they have the server and
computer, the hams putting on
the shows can't be paid
according to FCC rules. I think
the idea is great and will be a
rewarding experience but make it
free for God's sake....Storm
spotters need help....Dave
and the crew at
HRO in Salem, NH has been
flat out busy, the best place to
buy ham gear! My buddy Dean just
bought the FTM300 and is pleased
as punch with it...... Off
grid solar interference...HF
antennas for
beginners...
QSO Today Virtual Ham Expo
Returning in March...BUT
IT'S $10
The
QSO Today Virtual
Ham Expo will
return March 13 – 14 for a
full 48 hours, QSO Today
host Eric Guth,
4Z1UG/WA6IGR, announced this
week.
ARRL
is a QSO Today Expo Partner.
Guth said the
inaugural QSO Today Expo
last August attracted more
than 16,000 attendees, and
he anticipates that the
March 2021 event will be
even more successful.
The upcoming QSO Today
Virtual Ham Expo will
feature new speakers and
presenters, panel
discussions, and
kit-building workshops among
other activities. Guth
pointed out that attendees
can log in from anywhere.
While he anticipates a good
turnout by those who
typically attend such ham
radio events, the
virtual Expo also offers an
opportunity for those
concerned about pandemic
travel restrictions as well
as for those who don’t
typically attend in-person
events.
“At our last Expo,
we found that 60% of
attendees don’t go to
in-person national
conferences, and 40% don’t
attend state or local
events,” Guth said, noting
that distance and the high
cost of travel and lodging
were the most oft-cited
reasons.
Registration
is required, and to help
cover the costs of staging
this event, there will be a
charge to attend. Advance
tickets are $10 ($12.50 at
the “door”) and include
entry for the live, 2-day
show as well to the 30-day
on-demand period. At
the Expo, visitors can:
Learn from a
line-up of such well-known
ham radio personalities as
Bob Allphin, K4UEE, on “My
Favorite DXpeditions to DXCC
Top 10 Most Wanted;” Michael
Foerster, W0IH, on “Using
the Arduino in Your Shack,”
and Ron Jones, K7RJ, on “3D
Printer Basics.”
Take part in live virtual
kit-building workshops.
(Kits will be available for
purchase and delivered to
attendees in time for the
Expo.)
Walk through the
virtual exhibit hall to
visit an array of amateur
radio vendors and see live
demonstrations of the latest
equipment. This show will
leverage newer video
technology to provide a
better experience for
attendees to engage with
exhibitors.
Those planning to
attend the Expo may take
advantage of new speaker
calendar technology to
create their own calendar of
presentations in their time
zones, which can be saved to
a Google or Outlook
calendar.
Registrants may
return over the 30 days
following the live event to
catch speakers and
presentations missed during
the live period, as well as
to explore and re-engage
exhibitor offerings.
“The QSO Today
Virtual Ham Expo has all of
the familiar hallmarks of an
in-person hamfest, including
opportunities to connect and
learn,” ARRL Product
Development Manager Bob
Inderbitzen, NQ1R, said.
“Expect to bump into friends
and well-known experts and
personalities from
throughout our worldwide ham
radio community!” He
explained that attendees
visiting an exhibit or
virtual lounge will be able
to interact with other
attendees in those settings.
FlexRadio is the
Expo’s Platinum Sponsor.
Gold sponsors as of this
time include Elecraft,
RFinder, and CSI.
NA Contest Logging Software
Developer Dave Pruett, K8CC, SK
Contester and logging
software developer Dave
Pruett, K8CC, of Allen Park,
Michigan, died on December
29. An ARRL member,
he was 66. Although slowed
in recent years by health
issues, he is considered to
have been a significant
contributor to the
contesting community. After
obtaining the source code
for the CT contest
logger, Pruett wrote new
code, and “his NA
software breathed new life
into the program,” expanding
it to accommodate multiple
contests, said contester Jim
Cain, K1TN.
Earlier, Pruett had
developed a program to check
logs for duplicate contacts
that ran on a RadioShack
computer.
He was a log checker for
the ARRL 10-Meter and
160-Meter Contests,
chaired the Michigan QSO
Party, and was a longtime
member of the Mad River
Radio Club in Findlay, Ohio.
He served as editor of
National Contest Journal
(NCJ) for several
years when contester Randy
Thompson, K5ZD, was the
publisher and later, after
ARRL assumed publication of
the magazine.
“He was a guy who got
things done,” Thompson said
in a post to the CQ-contest
reflector.
Pruett also operated from
the Caribbean on many
occasions and was a
participant in the 1996
World Radiosport Team
Championship (WRTC) with
Stan Stockton, K5GO, who
called him “an inspiration.”
TUESDAY EDITION: I woke
up to a coating of snow on the
lawn and nothing in the
driveway, great way to start tje
day....How to convert
text into audio...Operating
qrp with the
new Icom 705...Brady
continues to
break records....A
photographer in Spain has
witnessed a mirage so rare, it's
possible no one has ever seen it
before. We're talking about a
green flash on Jupiter. A movie
of the unusual phenomenon, with
expert commentary, is featured
on today's edition of
Spaceweather.com
Radio Technology
Marconi
Radio owes its development to
two other inventions: the
telegraph and the
telephone. All three
technologies are closely
related, and radio technology
actually began as "wireless
telegraphy."
The term "radio" can refer to
either the electronic appliance
that we listen with or to the
content that plays from it. In
any case, it all started with
the discovery of radio
waves—electromagnetic waves that
have the capacity to transmit
music, speech, pictures, and
other data invisibly through the
air. Many devices work by using
electromagnetic waves, including
radios, microwaves, cordless
phones, remote controlled toys,
televisions, and more.
The Roots of Radio
Scottish physicist James
Clerk Maxwell first
predicted the existence of radio
waves in the 1860s. In 1886,
German physicist Heinrich
Rudolph Hertz demonstrated
that rapid variations of
electric current could be
projected into space in the form
of radio waves, similar to light
waves and heat waves.
1866,
Mahlon Loomis, an American
dentist, successfully
demonstrated "wireless
telegraphy." Loomis was able to
make a meter connected to a kite
cause a meter connected to
another nearby kite to move.
This marked the first known
instance of wireless aerial
communication.
But it was Guglielmo Marconi, an
Italian inventor, who proved the
feasibility of radio
communication. He sent and
received his first radio signal
in Italy in 1895. In 1899, he
flashed the first wireless
signal across the English
Channel, and two years later
received the letter "S," which
was telegraphed from England to
Newfoundland (now part of
Canada). This was the first
successful transatlantic
radiotelegraph message.
In addition to Marconi, two of
his contemporaries, Nikola
Tesla and Nathan
Stubblefield, took out patents
for wireless radio transmitters.
Nikola Tesla is now credited
with being the first person to
patent radio technology. The
Supreme Court overturned
Marconi's patent in 1943 in
favor of Tesla's.
The Invention of Radiotelegraphy
Radiotelegraphy is the sending
by radio waves of the same
dot-dash message (Morse code)
used by telegraphs.
Transmitters, at the turn of the
century, were known as spark-gap
machines. They were developed
mainly for ship-to-shore and
ship-to-ship communication. This
form of radiotelegraphy allowed
for simple communication between
two points. However, it was not
public radio broadcasting as we
know it today.
The use of
wireless signaling increased
after it was proved to be
effective in communication for
rescue work at sea. Soon a
number of ocean liners even
installed wireless equipment. In
1899, the United States Army
established wireless
communications with a lightship
off Fire Island, New York. Two
years later, the Navy adopted a
wireless system. Up until then,
the Navy had been using visual
signaling and homing pigeons for
communication.
In 1901, radiotelegraph service
was established between five
Hawaiian Islands. In 1903, a
Marconi station located in
Wellfleet,
Massachusetts, carried an
exchange between President
Theodore Roosevelt and King
Edward VII. In 1905, the naval
battle of Port Arthur in the
Russo-Japanese war was reported
by wireless. And in 1906, the
U.S. Weather Bureau experimented
with radiotelegraphy to speed up
notice of weather conditions.
Robert E. Peary, an arctic
explorer, radiotelegraphed "I
found the Pole" in 1909. A year
later, Marconi established
regular American-European
radiotelegraph service, which
several months later enabled an
escaped British murderer to be
apprehended on the high seas. In
1912, the first transpacific
radiotelegraph service was
established, linking San
Francisco with Hawaii.
Meanwhile, overseas
radiotelegraph service developed
slowly, primarily because the
initial radiotelegraph
transmitter was unstable and
caused a high amount of
interference. The Alexanderson
high-frequency alternator and
the De Forest tube eventually
resolved many of these early
technical problems.
The Advent of Space Telegraphy
Lee de Forest was the inventor
of space telegraphy, the triode
amplifier, and the Audion, an
amplifying vacuum tube. In the
early 1900s, the development of
radio was hampered by the lack
of an efficient detector of
electromagnetic radiation. It
was De Forest who provided that
detector. His invention made it
possible to amplify the radio
frequency signal picked up by
antennae. This allowed for the
use of much weaker signals than
had previously been possible. De
Forest was also the first person
to use the word "radio."
The result of Lee de Forest's
work was the invention of
amplitude-modulated or AM radio,
which allowed for a multitude of
radio stations. It was a huge
improvement over the earlier
spark-gap transmitters.
True Broadcasting Begins
In 1915, speech was first
transmitted by radio across the
continent from New York City to
San Francisco and across the
Atlantic Ocean. Five years
later, Westinghouse's
KDKA-Pittsburgh broadcasted the
Harding-Cox election returns and
began a daily schedule of radio
programs. In 1927, commercial
radiotelephony service linking
North America and Europe was
opened. In 1935, the first
telephone call was made around
the world using a combination of
wire and radio circuits.
Edwin Howard Armstrong invented
frequency-modulated or FM radio
in 1933. FM improved the audio
signal of radio by controlling
the noise static caused by
electrical equipment and the
earth's atmosphere. Until 1936,
all American transatlantic
telephone communication had to
be routed through England. That
year, a direct radiotelephone
circuit was opened to Paris.
In 1965, the first Master FM
Antenna system in the world,
designed to allow individual FM
stations to broadcast
simultaneously from one source,
was erected on the Empire State
Building in New York City.
CB Popularity...skip
the step and get a tech license.
The COVID-19
Pandemic has interestingly led
to an uptick in the use and
interest in CB radio, or amateur
radio as it is called in the US;
It serves as an interesting stat
in the age of smartphones and
the internet
WALCOTT, IA /
ACCESSWIRE / January 5, 2021 /
The COVID-19 Pandemic has led to
a significant increase in the
number of people now interested
in using CB Radio, learning to
use it, and people who are
buying CB radios. According to
the FCC, there are now more than
765,000
amateur radio license holders
in America, stating that the
number is on the rise since the
start of the Pandemic, with more
people applying for licenses.
Many different websites that
provide ham radio courses meant
to help prepare people for a ham
radio test have also
acknowledged an increase in the
number of people enrolling.
According to some leading
websites, the surge in students
started in March 2020, with the
number soaring to 706% compared
to the same time last year
(2019).
In addition to providing
reliable emergency
communications, amateur ham
radio operators have been
assisting the authorities by
building DIY medical equipment
throughout the crisis. PIC,
Arduino, Raspberry Pi, and
Feature microcontrollers are
used to build ham radios at
home, which can also be adapted
and modified to work as homebrew
ventilators.
Readers can find out more
about Walcott Radio by visiting
their official website
https://www.walcottradio.com
"We have always sold CB
radios here at Walcott Radio,
it's something we are passionate
about, but many were worried
that interest was dwindling as
the community assumingly shrunk.
However, the recent uptick in
interest is promising. In fact,
we've sold more CB radios this
year than we have in the past
three years, which is saying
something about how popular this
mode of communication has become
during the COVID-19 Pandemic."
Said a representative for
Walcott Radio.
W1AW 2021 Winter
Operating Schedule:
CW frequencies include code
practices, Qualifying Runs and
CW bulletins.
DIGITAL =
BAUDOT (45.45 baud), BPSK31 and
MFSK16 in a revolving schedule.
Code practice texts are
from QST, and the source of each
practice is given at the
beginning of each practice and
at the beginning of alternate
speeds.
On Tuesdays and
Fridays at 2330 UTC (6:30 PM
EST), Keplerian Elements for
active amateur satellites are
sent on the regular digital
frequencies.
A DX
bulletin replaces or is added to
the regular bulletins between
0100 UTC (8 PM EST) Thursdays
and 0100 UTC (8 PM EST) Fridays.
Audio from W1AW's CW
code practices, CW/digital
bulletins and phone bulletin is
available using EchoLink via the
W1AW Conference Server named
"W1AWBDCT." The monthly W1AW
Qualifying Runs are presented
here as well. The audio is sent
in real-time and runs
concurrently with W1AW's regular
transmission schedule.
All users who connect to the
conference server are muted.
Please note that any questions
or comments about this server
should not be sent via the
"Text" window in EchoLink.
Please direct any questions or
comments to w1aw@arrl.org .
In a communications
emergency, monitor W1AW for
special bulletins as follows:
Voice on the hour, Digital at 15
minutes past the hour, and CW on
the half hour.
All
licensed amateurs may operate
the station from 1500 UTC to
1700 UTC (10 AM to 12 PM EST),
and then from 1800 UTC to 2045
UTC (1 PM to 3:45 PM EST) Monday
through Friday. Be sure to bring
a reference copy of your current
FCC amateur radio license.
The weekly W1AW and monthly
West Coast Qualifying Runs are
sent on the normal CW
frequencies used for both code
practice and bulletin
transmissions. West Coast
Qualifying Run stations may also
use 3590 kHz.
Please
note that because of current
COVID-19 restrictions, W1AW is
not open for visitor operations
at this time.
MONDAY EDITION: No snow
here, not even a drizzle just
overcast....I am still debating
if I should get the vaccine.
...I am glad I am not in the
Chinese army...These robots
creep
the shit out of me.....Only
in
Georgia...Twenty new pistols
we are not allowed to have
here in MA....Sherwood
test data on RX....So long
Miami....
HAM RADIO KEEPS
ASTRONAUTS IN TOUCH WITH FAMILY
The International Space
Station cost more than $100
billion. A ham radio set can be
had for a few hundred bucks.
Perhaps that
explains, in part, the appeal of
having one of humankind's
greatest scientific inventions
communicate with Earth via
technology that's more than 100
years old. But perhaps there's a
simpler explanation for why
astronauts and ham radio
operators have been talking, and
talking, for years.
NASA astronaut Doug Wheelock
was just a few weeks into his
six-month mission at the space
station when feelings of
isolation began to set in.
Wheelock would be separated
from loved ones, save for
communication via an internet
phone, email or social media. At
times, the stress and tension of
serving as the station's
commander could be intense.
One night, as he looked out a
window at the Earth below, he
remembered the space station's
ham radio. He figured he'd turn
it on -- see if anyone was
listening.
"Any station, any station,
this is the International Space
Station," Wheelock said.
A flood of voices jumbled out
of the airwaves.
Astronauts aboard the space
station often speak to students
via ham radio, which can also be
used in emergencies, but those
are scheduled appearances. Some,
like Wheelock, spend their
limited free time making contact
with amateur radio operators
around the world.
"It allowed me to ... just
reach out to humanity down
there," said Wheelock, who
interacted with many operators,
known as "hams," during that
stay at the space station in
2010. "It became my emotional,
and a really visceral,
connection to the planet."
The first amateur radio
transmission from space dates to
1983, when astronaut Owen
Garriott took to the airwaves
from the Space Shuttle Columbia.
Garriott was a licensed ham who,
back on Earth, had used his home
equipment in Houston to chat
with his father in Oklahoma.
Garriott and fellow astronaut
Tony England pushed NASA to
allow amateur radio equipment
aboard shuttle flights.
"We thought it would be a
good encouragement for young
people to get interested in
science and engineering if they
could experience this," said
England, who was the second
astronaut to use ham radio in
space.
An almost all-volunteer
organization called Amateur
Radio on the International Space
Station, or ARISS, now helps
arrange contact between students
and astronauts. Students prepare
to ask questions rapid-fire, one
after another, into the ham
radio microphone for the brief
10-minute window before the
space station flies out of
range.
"We try to think of ourselves
as planting seeds and hoping
that we get some mighty oaks to
grow," said Kenneth G. Ransom,
the ISS Ham project coordinator
at NASA's Johnson Space Center
in Houston.
Typically, about 25 schools
throughout the world are chosen
each year, said Rosalie White,
international secretary
treasurer at ARISS.
"Not too many people get to
talk to an astronaut," she said.
"They get the importance of
that."
The conversations are a treat
for the astronauts as well.
"You're talking to someone
and looking right down at where
they are," NASA astronaut Ricky
Arnold II said.
Over the last 10 years, ham
radio has become more popular,
experts say, with about 750,000
licensed amateur operators
across the United States. (not
all of whom are active on the
air). Helping to drive that
interest: emergency
communications.
"Ham radio is when all else
fails," said Diana Feinberg, Los
Angeles section manager for the
American Radio Relay League, the
national association for amateur
radio. "Unlike other forms of
communication, it does not
require any kind of a switched
network."
But for some hams, the allure
is the opportunity to connect
with people all over the world
-- or even above it.
During his 10-day shuttle
mission in 1983, astronaut
Garriott spoke with about 250
hams all over the world,
including King Hussein of Jordan
and Sen. Barry Goldwater of
Arizona. Garriott died in 2019.
"From my perspective, even
from a young age, it was very
obvious how globally
inspirational that moment was,"
said his son Richard Garriott.
"People from Australia and
America, just all over, had
tuned in, and it clearly touched
them. No matter what their
station was, no matter where
physically they were, they all
became part of this global
experience."
It's not surprising that
Richard Garriott followed his
father's example with a 2008
flight to the space station as a
private astronaut. During his
free time on the 12-day mission,
the younger Garriott made
contact with so many hams on the
ground -- including his father
-- that the two pieces of paper
he carried to record contacts
filled up during his first day
on the radio.
"Any moderately populated
landmass, without regard to time
of day or night, you would find
a bountiful group of enthusiasts
who are ready to make contact,"
he said.
What drives this desire for
contact? Amateur radio operators
love a challenge, particularly
when it comes to reaching remote
or unusual locations.
"We're always, in amateur
radio, talking to people we
don't know," England said. "If
we didn't enjoy the adventure of
meeting other people through
that way, we probably wouldn't
have been amateur radio
operators."
Amateur operator Larry
Shaunce has made a handful of
contacts with astronauts over
the years, the first time in the
1980s, when, as a teenager, he
reached Owen Garriott.
More recently, Shaunce, 56,
made contact with NASA astronaut
Serena Aunon-Chancellor in 2018.
"Hello, this is Larry in
Minnesota," he said after
Aunon-Chancellor acknowledged
his call sign.
"Oh, Minnesota!" she replied,
adding that she could hear him
"super clear" up in space and
that he must have nice
equipment.
"It's always exciting when
you talk to somebody in space,"
said Shaunce, an electronic
technician in Albert Lea, Minn.
"You just never know. I monitor
the frequency all the time."
James Lea knows that reaching
the space station can be hit or
miss. He and a friend once
pulled over near a farm in
Bunnell, Fla., as the space
station flew overhead.
The pair sat in a truck with
an antenna on the roof and the
radio equipment in the cab.
After a few tries, they heard
Auñón-Chancellor respond: "Hey,
good morning, Florida. How are
you?"
Lea, 53, a filmmaker and
engineer, recalled that he and
his friend were "sitting in the
middle of a cabbage field. The
fact that she came back to him
was kind of incredible."
Lea's daughter Hope has tried
for years to reach the space
station but has never gotten a
response. She got her ham radio
license at age 8. Now 14, Hope
is thinking about becoming an
astronaut and going to Mars, her
father said.
David Pruett, an emergency
physician from Hillsboro, Ore.,
tried to contact the space
station using a multi-band
amateur radio with a magnetic
mount antenna, placed in a pizza
pan to improve performance.
Working from his dining-room
table, he made many fruitless
attempts. But one day, the space
station got close to the West
Coast, and Pruett again put out
the call.
"November Alpha One Sierra
Sierra," he said, using the
amateur radio call sign for the
space station.
Seconds of silence stretched
after Pruett's identification:
"Kilo Foxtrot Seven Echo Tango
X-ray, Portland, Ore."
Then came a crackle, then the
voice of astronaut Wheelock. At
the close, both signed off with
"73" -- ham lingo for "best
regards." Remembering that first
conversation in 2010 still makes
the hair on Pruett's arms stand
up.
"It was absolutely
unbelievable," Pruett said. "To
push that microphone button and
call the International Space
Station and then let go of the
button and wait, and then you
hear this little crackle, and
you hear Doug Wheelock come back
and say, 'Welcome aboard the
International Space Station' --
it's just mind-boggling."
Pruett and Wheelock went on
to have 31 contacts in all, one
when Pruett was stuck in a
traffic jam in Tacoma, Wash.
"I feel like I struck up a
friendship with him," said
Pruett, 64, who chronicled many
of his contacts on YouTube. "I
can only imagine that their
workload is very tight, and
they've got precious little free
time, but I think it was very
generous of him to donate as
much of his free time to amateur
radio operators as he did."
Wheelock remembers Pruett
well.
"David was one of the early
contacts I made," he said. "He
was one of the first voices I
heard as I was approaching the
West Coast."
Wheelock's other ham radio
contacts made similarly deep
impressions on him -- including
a man from Portugal he spoke to
so many times that Wheeler and
his fellow astronauts once
serenaded him with "Happy
Birthday to You."
Wheelock also made contact
with some of the first
responders who worked to rescue
the 33 Chilean miners trapped
underground for 69 days in 2010.
"I just wanted to give a word
of encouragement ... to let them
know that there's someone above
that cares about what they're
doing and what's in their path,"
he said.
During a six-month mission
from 2005 to 2006, NASA
astronaut William McArthur spoke
via ham radio with 37 schools
and made more than 1,800
individual contacts in more than
90 countries.
"That's just an
infinitesimally small percentage
of the world's population, but
it's a lot more than I think I
could have directly touched any
other way," he said. "I wanted
to share with people who maybe
were random, who maybe didn't
have a special connection or
insight into space exploration."
It also allowed for some
variety in his conversation
partners. During his mission,
McArthur's main crew mate was
Russian cosmonaut Valeri
Tokarev.
"I love him like a brother.
We're very, very close," he
said. "But still, it's one other
person for six months."
A Harvard professor says an
alien visited in 2017 - and more
are coming
When the first sign of
intelligent life visits us from
space, it won't be a giant
saucer hovering over New York.
More likely, it will be an alien
civilization’s trash.
Avi Loeb, chair of Harvard’s
Department of Astronomy,
believes he’s already found some
of that garbage.
In his upcoming book, 'Extraterrestrial:
The First Sign of Intelligent
Life Beyond Earth' (Houghton
Mifflin Harcourt), out Jan. 26,
the professor lays out a
compelling case for why an
object that recently wandered
into our solar system was not
just another rock but actually a
piece of alien technology.
STORY
